Namonaki Ai
by the1koolkitty
Summary: In society under the sea, aibou means partner...partner means lover...lover means forever. But what might happen if the prince of the merpeople, Atemu, chose the human prince Yugi as his aibou? Little Mermaid Parody YYY, side RB and SJ
1. Author's Preluding Notes

**(Kitty, Mokuba, Ryou, Joey and Yugi are playing in a swimming pool, laughing and splashing each other. On the side Kaiba is reading a book and Bakura and Atem are once again chasing each other, hoping to get revenge against the other.)**

**Bakura: (his hair turned pink) YOU LITTLE…WHEN I GET MY HANDS ON YOU-**

**Atem: (laughing his head off as he jumps into the swimming pool and uses Ryou as a shield) Now, now, Tomb Robber…haven't you ever heard that revenge will get you nowhere?**

**Bakura: (on the side on of the pool) FUCK THAT! COME BACK HERE SO I CAN KILL YOU!**

**Ryou: (sighs in aggravation) Can't you two _ever_ stop _fighting_? This day is _supposed_ to be for _fun_.**

**Bakura: It _will_ be fun as soon as I get that royal asshole's neck in my grasp!**

**Kitty: (snappish) Oh, be quiet! You _know_ I'd never let you kill Atem-chan, Bakura, so just _GET A GRIP_! **

**Everyone: …**

**Kitty: (crosses her arms) You know, if you had not been threatening Atem-chan and had asked _politely_, I would've changed your hair back to normal.**

**Bakura: W-_WHA_? _Really_? **

**Kitty: Yeah…but _now_ I don't feel so _inclined_.**

**Bakura: (whining) Oh _c'mon_, Kitty…I can't go around like _this_! No one will take me _seriously_, and if I can't _steal_, I'LL DIE OF _HUNGER_! (looks absolutely pathetic)**

**Kitty: (ponders this for a moment and then sighs) If you _promise_ to be even-tempered until we get home…then I'll change your hair back.**

**Bakura: (jumps into the air elatedly) _Hallelujah_!**

**Kitty: (sighs again as she swims to the edge of the pool) Oi…Kaiba-kun.**

**Kaiba: (looks up from his book in annoyance) What?**

**Kitty: Put your laptop down here, will ya?**

**Kaiba: (does so) What for?**

**Kitty: Swimming with you all reminded me of my latest fanfic, and I need to post it.**

**Atem, Yugi, Mokuba, Bakura and Joey: (excitedly) _FANFIC_?**

**Ryou: You started another?**

**Kitty: Yep! It's another shonen-ai fic!**

**Atem, Bakura and Joey: (groans)**

**Joey: Ya mean one of those kinds of fics where I get paired with Kaiba?**

**Atem: Or Yugi has to cheat on you to be with me?**

**Bakura: Or I have to fuck my ninny Hikari?**

**Ryou: I AM _NOT_ A NINNY!**

**Bakura: (cowers)**

**Kitty: All of the above, actually.**

**Kaiba, Bakura, Atem and Joey: (turn green)**

**Mokuba: (laughs) Actually I kind of like these fics, nii-sama: it'd be fun to have Joey-kun for a brother too!**

**Kaiba and Joey: Don't ever think that will actually _happen_, Mokuba. (glare at each other)**

**Yugi: So what is the parody of, Kitten? **

**Kitty: (grins) I'll give you a hint… (comes out of the water to reveal a green fish tail where her legs should be)**

**(…The sound of silence…)**

**Atem: Finding Nemo?**

**Kitty: (annoyed) _NO_! The Little Mermaid!**

**Mokuba: _Ooh_, we're all _mermaids_?**

**Kitty: Mer_men_, actually. Can't have you all getting a sex change.**

**Kaiba: Thank goodness: otherwise I'd have to sue you.**

**Yugi: (glares) You're not suing my Kitten! She can write anything she wants.**

**Kitty: (pecks Yugi's cheek) Thanks, dear. (ahem) Anyway… (grins) I believe I've gone into my story quite enough. (types a few things on Kaiba's laptop and then clicks the mouse) Alrighty, my wonderful readers…R&R my latest Yu-Gi-Oh shonen-ai parody..._Namonaki Ai_! **


	2. Chapter 1: Mysterious Fathoms Below

_**Chapter 1: Mysterious Fathoms Below**_

Ever since the human race first appeared, there have been tales of fantastical creatures that proved a threat to human life. There were creatures that lived in the wild to eat them, like chimeras; there were creatures in the realms of the dead, like giant, three-headed dogs; there were creatures even hidden among society, like werewolves and vampires. Then, of course, there were the beautiful mermaids of oceans who sang to sailors so that they'd crash their ships into the rocks they sat on. Of course, all of these creatures are simply fantastical; there is no shred of evidence that they were nothing more than the imaginary creation of human fears…

Or _is _there?

True sailors might tell you differently. Many of them claim to have seen real life merpeople; some even say they caught one or met one…there was even, many, many years ago, a prince who saw and fell in love with a merman. This story was passed down through the line of the prince many years afterward, as to help explain the odd connection each of the heirs has had with the sea nearby their grand, white palace.

The story starts with a beautiful, cloudless day; the seas were calm, the wind was singing a friendly song and the seawaters reflected the radiant sun back to the sky. A ship was sailing through the ocean nearby the white royal palace, and some dolphins splashed around it, twirling and showing off before diving back into the ocean's depths.

A tall man with pointed brown hair and brown eyes and wearing a stuffy butler-like uniform was bent over the ship, obviously quite seasick.

"Are you alright, Tristan?" asked a girl with short brown hair and blue eyes and wearing an equally stuffy maid-like uniform.

Tristan finally lifted his head up to look at her, his face quite green.

"Oh yeah…I'm fine, Tea…" he attempted to sound reassuring, but his attempt didn't quite work since he bent over the ship again two seconds later.

Tea sighed, sweatdropping slightly. "Well, at least _Yugi's_ enjoying himself…where _is_ Yugi, anyway?"

Tristan came back up and wiped his sweaty brow. "Feh, who _knows_? We _really_ need to get a _leash_ for that boy…"

A youthful laugh rang out above them, and the two servants looked up to see a boy with spiky tricolor hair and wide violet eyes and wearing loose black pants and an oversized white shirt climbing down the rope ladder connected to the crow's nest.

"Yugi, you _really_ shouldn't be hanging up around in the crow's nest," Tristan chastised. "Tea and I are _supposed_ to be looking _after_ you…what do you expect us to say to the king if he learns you broke your neck or something?"

Yugi laughed again. "Tristan, you _worry_ too much; it's not like I was jumping from the crow's nest all the way down to the deck or something…and Gramps wouldn't get upset with _you_ for something that was _my_ fault."

Tristan snorted. "But you're the _prince_, Yugi."

"That's right," Tea agreed as Tristan bent over the edge of the ship for the third time. "You need to be careful."

"Aw _c'mon_, lass," laughed the captain, a young man with a foreign accent, messy brown hair and blue eyes named Valon. "You don't _honestly_ think we'd let our dear prince get into any _harm_?"

"Yeah, we're not going to throw him overboard," concurred the first mate, a man with red hair and hazel-blue eyes named Amelda.

Tea looked reproachfully at the two smirking sailors. "You better not, or the king would throw you so far out to sea that you'd never see land again."

Valon and Amelda's smiles immediately left their faces.

"_Crikey_, lass," the Captain muttered. "You need to learn to lighten up."

"Even if the prince went overboard, I doubt he'd be in much _danger_," a heavily built sailor with blond hair and sideburns and sharp blue eyes named Raphael stated. "Seeing how good of a mood King Aknamkanon is today, I doubt he'd let him drown."

"King Aknamkanon?" inquired Yugi. "Who's he?"

Amelda, Valon and Raphael looked at Yugi as if he were crazy.

"King Aknamkanon of the _Merpeople_, of course!" Amelda answered. "I thought _everyone_ knew about _him_…"

"_Merpeople_?" Tristan repeated scornfully. "There's no such thing."

"Yes, there is!" Valon insisted. "My pa saw one with his very own eyes!"

"_Really_?" Yugi asked interestedly.

"Aye," Valon assented. "He was a fisherman, see; he was checking his net for fish he could sell at the market the next day, when he found the most _amazing_ _thing_! A man with hair as white as clouds, skin tanned like the sand on the beach and eyes the color of newly-grown lavender…but this man was no _ordinary_ man…where a normal man would have two _legs_, _this_ man had a red tail like a _fish_! His left fin had been badly cut when he got trapped in the net, see, so my pa unhooked his tail and tried to bandage his wound, but the merman squirmed away from him and jumped back into the water and out of sight! My pa never saw him since…but when he came home the next day, he found a pearl as big as me own eye on the dock near where he fished! That pearl was enough for me pa to buy his own ship…"

Valon looked around at his ship proudly. "…And I'd bet _anything_ that it was the _merman_ who placed the pearl there, to repay Pa for letting him go."

"_Wow_," Yugi breathed, his violet eyes shining. "That's so _amazing_!"

"It's a nice story," Tea stated seriously, "but you shouldn't encourage Yugi by making up that sort of stuff…he's way too imaginative as it is."

"I'm _not_ making it up!" Valon said indignantly. "It's the honest-to-God truth!"

Tristan and Tea exchanged a doubtful look. Yugi, however, looked out to sea dreamily.

"I wish _I_ could see a merman," he murmured to himself.

Meanwhile, in the waters underneath Valon's grand ship, there was a ruckus in the coral palace of King Aknamkanon. The High Priests that served as the Royal Court had just realized that the Crown Prince had disappeared again.

"_Oh_, what are we going to _do_?" moaned a merman with long brown hair and eyes and a purple tail named Mahaado. "If King Aknamkanon finds out…we're all going to be _fried_!"

"It's not _our_ fault my cousin can't keep his fins in one place," a young brown-haired, blue-eyed and blue-tailed merman named Seto muttered.

"No, but we will be his Court in the future," pointed out Aknadin, a bearded merman with a silver tail who was Seto's father and Aknamkanon's brother.

A mermaid with black hair, blue eyes and an orange tail named Isis nodded. "And as such, we have to keep an _eye_ on him."

Seto groaned, scratching the top of his head in frustration. "_For__crying out loud_! I'm a _High Priest_, not a _nanny_!"

Two more mermen, one with dark hair, green eyes and a yellow tail and the other bald with blue eyes and a brown tail, opened the door to the conference hall and joined the group.

"Karim, Shada," greeted Aknadin. "Any sign of the prince?"

"None," Karim and Shada stated in regretful unison.

All six Priests sighed tiredly.

"Where the hell could that stupid prince _be_?" growled Seto.

Ironically enough, the prince was not that far away from the palace.

A young merman with star-like tricolor hair hanging down on his shoulder, sharp-lidded red eyes, tan skin and a black tail looked over the mast of a sunken ship, grinning excitedly as if it were his birthday.

"_Atemu_! Oi, Atemu, slow down!"

Atemu rolled his eyes and turned to see a blond merman with warm brown eyes and a green tail with a scar shaped like a sharp-lidded _"J"_ on his right fin swimming toward him.

"Joey, hurry up!" Atemu said impatiently.

Joey caught up to him, panting a little. "Easy for _you_ to say…you're the fastest swimmer in the entire ocean!"

"_Who's_ got the longer fin out of the two of us?" Atemu joshed.

"_Who's_ got less muscle and flesh to move around?" countered Joey.

"_Touché_."

Joey shrugged. "Anyway…why'd you want to meet _here_?"

Atemu swam over to the door to the brig of the ship and gestured to the seaweed that had grown around it so that it kept the door from being opened.

"I couldn't open it by myself," he explained, "but I could see something through the porthole…it looks like some sort of game."

Joey sighed, smirking slightly. "Should've _known_ you needed my help for another one of your human-game escapades…oh well, let me see…"

He tugged up on the door as Atemu tore aside some of the seaweed, and at last, the door opened with a shriek.

"_Yes_!" Atemu whispered, swimming in to investigate the supposed game he'd seen through the porthole.

"What is it?" Joey asked, shoving some of the sea fungi that had grown around it aside.

"It looks like some sort of board," Atemu murmured, swimming around to observe it at different angles.

"And these?" inquired Joey, picking up one of the small knick-knacks that had fallen off the board onto the floor.

Atemu took it and squinted at it. "It looks like a game piece…oh, of _course_! See these black and white squares on the board? I bet these pieces have to move across it to get to the other side to win the game!"

"So I guess it's like that old joke, eh?" Joey teased, grinning. "_'Why did the guppy cross the road? To get to the other side!'_"

Atemu punched Joey in the arm, smiling. "Oh shut up…c'mon," he picked up the black and white board and started putting the pieces that littered the floor into a drawstring bag around his wrist, "Let's go find Ryou…he'll know what the rules to this game are!"

Ryou was a childhood friend of Joey and Atemu's who had always been very interested in humans; a few years ago, he had been exiled from the kingdom after he went up to the surface and made contact with a little girl, so now he hid in the outskirts of the area to continue his research on humans.

Joey and Atemu swam away from the shipwreck and headed away from the castle until they reached a group of underwater caves. After weaving in and out of them for a while they found the one with seaweed covering the entrance to serve as a door.

Atemu pushed the seaweed aside and called, "Ryou? Bakura? You home?"

"Well, well, well," laughed a deep voice. "Look who came to pay us a visit…the little prince."

A merman with lavender eyes, tan skin, a pearl barrette in his short white hair, a double "X" scar on his left cheek and a long slash-like scar down the left fin of his red tail swam out of a room to greet the two, smirking and crossing his arms.

"Hey, Bakura," Atemu greeted, looking serious instead of cheerful like he had with Joey. "Is Ryou here?"

"Of _course_ Aibou is here," Bakura replied in an almost sneering way. "He's in the library."

"_Aibou,"_ or _"partner," _was a term used by merpeople for their mates, who could be picked out by a piece of jewelry or hairpiece identical to their partner's. Ryou had met Bakura when he'd first been exiled and the two became very close after discovering their shared interest in humans. Bakura, however, didn't always take the research quite as seriously as Ryou; he was more interested in observing than recording…that, and he loved to pick on Atemu, as he knew more about humans than the young merprince and Atemu was so curious about their games.

"Found a new game, little prince?" Bakura asked Atemu, gesturing to the black and white board in his hand and smirking broadly. "Maybe _I_ can show you how to play…_OW_!"

Ryou, a merman with soft brown eyes, a turquoise tail and a barrette similar to Bakura's in his long white hair, had just appeared beside Bakura and had whacked him on the head.

"The _last_ time you tried to show someone how to play a game, you made up new rules for Go Fish so that it was a cousin to _Strip Poker_," Ryou snapped.

Bakura rubbed the back of his head awkwardly. "Aw _c'mon_, Aibou, I only did it so that I could get closer to _you_…I meant no _harm_."

Ryou snorted, before smiling at Joey and Atemu. "It's good to see you two…I found a game a few days ago that you might be interested in, Atemu…"

"Really?" Atemu inquired, sounding eager. "Is it played on a board like this?"

He showed the board to Ryou, who shook his head.

"No, it's quite different from chess…I'll show you how to play _that_ another time, but what I was just able to get is a real _treasure_…I _still_ can't believe I have them all in one piece…"

Atemu, Joey and Bakura followed Ryou into the library; it was a large room in two halves, one with an underwater part where Ryou recorded his research and a cavern above water where Ryou kept the books and other items that would be soiled by water.

Atemu put the chessboard and pieces down as Ryou went up to the top half of the cavern, before returning again underwater and showing a set of cards in plastic sleeves to Atemu.

"A little boy left these on the beach the other day after playing a game with one of his friend and losing," Ryou explained. "Fortunately they were in these plastic sleeves when I found them, so I didn't have a problem bringing them with me underwater…I guess the person who gave these to the boy was worried he'd ruin or rip them. Anyway, these cards are from a game called Duel Monsters…"

"Drooling Monsters?" recurred Joey.

"_Duel Monsters_," Ryou corrected as Atemu looked over the drawings on the cards in awe. "You see, each monster card has an attack power, a defense power and sometimes a special effect. You have to fight your opponent with these monsters and helpful cards called magic and traps, until either you surrender or you wipe out your opponent's lifepoints."

"Duel Monsters…" Atemu murmured, before his face broke out into a smirk. "It sounds fun! I wish I had more cards…and someone to play with," he added with a slight sigh.

Bakura patted the top of Atemu's head as if he were a kitten. "_Aw_, poor little prince…you could always go ask your daddy if you can go play with a _human_!"

Ryou whacked Bakura over the head for suggesting such a thing, while Atemu's eyes widened in horror.

"Oh _shit_!" the prince shouted. "I have to get back to the palace…Dad's going to _kill_ me if he sees I snuck out again!"

And without another word, Joey and Atemu swam as fast as their fins could take them back toward the palace.

"Your Highness, _really_, this is the _fifth_ time this _week_!" Isis scolded Atemu as he rested his head on the conference table. "Do you find _amusement_ in us having _heart attacks_ when we find out you're _gone_?"

"I find amusement when I _leave_, Isis," Atemu muttered. "The palace is so _boring_!"

"You need to learn how to rule the kingdom," Aknadin told his nephew. "You'll _have_ to tolerate some boredom to do so."

Seto nodded. "And the way our lessons are going with Shada, I'd say I'm learning a _hell_ of a lot more than _you_."

Atemu glowered at Seto. "C'mon Seto, everyone knows you're a _genius_, and besides…isn't it more _practical_ for me to learn about the kingdom by actually going out _into_ it instead of just _studying_?"

"Like you _really_ stay inside the palace _walls_?" Mahaado asked, smiling wryly.

Atemu blushed, and then he immediately acted confused. "What? Of _course_ I-"

"_Really_, Atemu," said Karim. "We know _very_ well that you're trying to learn more about _humans_…something you know the king would _highly_ disapprove of. Your mother died because of human fishermen, or have you _forgotten_?"

Atemu crossed his arms. "No, but judging an entire race based on a few people is _wrong_. It would be like saying all merpeople are judgmental because _Father_ is."

"Whether you like it or not, my prince, contact with humans is forbidden," Shada reminded him.

"I haven't _had_ contact with humans!"

"But you've had contact with their _things_, and if you don't stop, you may become tempted to make contact with _them_ later."

The other priests nodded. Atemu snorted, before swimming off in the direction of his room.

Joey waved at Atemu outside his window, and the prince grinned at him before opening the window and swimming out to meet him. Then the two swam off away from the palace.

Little did they know that a young merman with a blue tail had followed Atemu to his room and had seen him sneak out, before curiously swimming after them.


	3. Chapter 2: Longing for Something More

_**Chapter 2: Longing for Something More**_

When the two mermen had stopped swimming around a large collection of sunken ships not far away from where Ryou lived, Seto saw Joey look around suspiciously, before gesturing to Atemu to "go on" somewhere and swimming off in the opposite direction. Assuming he must've been going home, Seto quietly swam after Atemu as he pushed some seaweed aside to swim toward the sunken ships…

But immediately stopped and yelled out in surprise when something grabbed him and slammed him face-first into one of the cave walls.

"What do you think _you're_ doing?"

Seto shoved the stranger off him and turned around to look at him.

Now that he was seeing Atemu's friend properly, he pointed out his sharp _"J"_ scarred green tail, messy blond hair and warm brown eyes…brown eyes that Seto could've sworn he'd seen somewhere before…

"_Dogfish_?" Seto inquired in surprise.

Joey growled angrily. "Don't call me that, you…!"

His voice faded away as his eyes widened in recognition.

"_Rich boy_?"

Seto smirked. "Long time, no see, dogfish."

"_Don't call me that_!" snapped Joey. "The _last _time you called me that-"

"We were little merboys trying to out-swim Atemu," Seto finished for him, smiling slightly at the memory, "only to lose abysmally."

'_I used to always like teasing you,'_ the blue-tailed High Priest remembered fondly. _'You're still the same as I remember you…hot-tempered, aggressive and deathly loyal…just like a dog.'_

Joey crossed his arms, looking both uncomfortable at seeing Seto smiling and suspicious as to his intentions. "So what are you doing around _here_? Isn't this too far away from the castle for precious rich kids to go?"

"I was ordered to keep an eye on my _cousin_," Seto replied with a scowl. "And I saw you two swim down here…unfortunately, thanks to you, I didn't see where he vanished off to."

Joey eyed Seto for a moment. "Why should I help _you_? You just want to keep Atemu locked up in the palace…and as his friend, I won't let you do that."

"I don't care about Atemu looking at human stuff," Seto muttered. "I just want to make sure he's not having any _contact_ with humans. If all Atemu's doing is looking at forks and spoons, then I won't tell the priests."

Joey frowned. "Well, he's not really looking at forks and spoons…but…if you _swear_ not to tell _anyone_ about this…_especially_ not Atemu's father…I'll show you where Atemu went. Agreed?"

He extended his hand. Seto looked down at it for a moment, before gripping it and shaking on it.

"Agreed."

Joey swam off around the ships, Seto close behind him. Finally, after weaving in, out and around enough to make Seto dizzy, they reached a grotto hidden from view by a large sunken ocean liner.

_It was amazing_.

All along the almost _"shelves" _of the grotto were hundreds upon thousands of human games…board games, card games, word games, and even rulebooks for games…all piled artistically around each other so that it looked like a beautiful, interactive museum. An opening along the ceiling shone light off the walls and down into the cavern, making the games stand out in reflected-sun spotlights on their shelves. Everything was so well cared for, yet so broken into, that it was obvious the one who owned this place had no other passion in all the world…and it was true, for Atemu truly had no other passion.

"_Atemu_!" called Joey. "It's me."

Atemu swam down from one of the top shelves of the grotto, smiling at Joey; then when he saw Seto, he froze.

"What are _you_ doing here?" he demanded.

"Don't worry, Atemu, I made a deal with him," Joey assured him. "He said he wouldn't tell anyone."

"How _charitable_ of him," Atemu said coolly, looking at Seto suspiciously. "I hope you're not _lying_, cousin."

"I don't lie unless it's to cheat someone out of something," Seto answered, smiling slightly.

Atemu smiled slightly in return. "Very well, then."

"Where the hell did you get all of this…_stuff_?" Seto inquired, gesturing around at the prince's collection.

Atemu's smile widened. "The shipwrecks around here, mostly…but Ryou and Bakura were able to grab some on land for me-"

"_Ryou_?" repeated Seto. "The _exile_?"

"Our _friend_," Joey corrected. "But yeah, the exile."

Seto looked reproachful, but shrugged. "And who's Bakura?"

"Ryou's aibou," answered Atemu.

"That quiet little albino has an _aibou_? _There's_ something I never saw coming."

"Well, the _last_ time you saw him, we were _all_ little, Seto," Atemu pointed out.

"True," Seto assented. "Of course, _you_ were _so_ little you could be compared to _plankton_."

"Ha, ha, ha," Atemu laughed sarcastically.

Suddenly the entire grotto had gone dark; the mermen looked up to see a huge, black and brown blob had blocked the opening in the ceiling, therefore blocking the sunlight from reflecting down through the grotto.

"What do you suppose…?" Joey whispered.

Atemu, however, didn't stay to ponder this, instead swimming up through the grotto to investigate.

"Atemu!" Seto yelled. "_Stop_! _Atemu_!"

Joey shook his head tiredly, and the two swam after the prince.

When Atemu got to the surface, he was amazed by what he saw. Multicolored lights shone like exploding stars in the sky around a large human ship that had docked near his grotto.

He grinned, entertained by the colored stars dancing around the sky.

'What are they called, I wonder?' he thought to himself. 'Ryou would know…I'll have to ask him later…right now, I have to get closer!'

Atemu vaguely heard the voices of Joey and Seto urging him back, but he paid them no mind as he swam up to the ship.

Atemu climbed up the side until he could see over the edge of the ship. Sure, his scales would dry out a little, but he wouldn't stay out of the water long enough for it to be dangerous; all he wanted was a closer look.

A muscular sailor with blond hair and sideburns was playing a card game with a younger man with spiky tricolor hair oddly like the merman's own and innocent violet eyes. When the sailor declared an attack against the innocent-looking man's _"lifepoints,"_ Atemu realized excitedly that this was the Duel Monsters game Ryou had mentioned.

'_Oh wow, I can actually see how it's played!'_ the prince thought eagerly.

The young man didn't look troubled by the attack, however; he flipped a card on the table face-up, calling it a _"trap"_ known as _"Mirror Force."_ The muscular sailor looked alarmed as the young man stated his victory with a cheerful smile and a hope for another game. Two servants, one female and one male both with brown hair, patted the young man on the shoulders to congratulate him, and a brown-haired man dressed like a captain cheered for the young man, calling him _"King of Games."_

'_He loves games too…'_ Atemu thought as the spiky-haired young man laughed. _'He's really good…and very, very handsome…'_

He felt his cheeks grow warm as he stared at the young man with vague eyes.

'_He's so…perfect.'_

"_Atemu_!"

Atemu looked down to see Joey and Seto in the water below him.

"C'mon man, get _away_ from there!" Joey hissed. "Someone will _see_ you!"

"Be quiet, or they'll _hear_ you!" Atemu retorted, turning back to watch the action on the ship.

"And now," proclaimed the male servant, "for Prince Yugi's birthday presents…first, one from the kingdom."

He gestured to a very large present wrapped in brown paper and a red bow.

"I tell you, it took me _ages_ to push this thing on here for you, Yugi," he joshed, smiling at the tricolor-haired young man…_"Yugi."_

'"_Game,"'_ Atemu thought dreamily. _'His name means "game"…how fitting.'_

Yugi laughed. "Aw, Tristan, you shouldn't have gone to so much _trouble_…"

"What are friends for?" Tristan asked. "I only hope it's _worth_ it…"

Yugi went over to the package and pulled the wrapping paper off.

It was a marble statue of himself; his face was scrunched up in a determined smirk very unlike the happy smile Atemu had seen on Yugi's face while he was dueling the blond sailor, strapped on his arm was a small, weird board with slots for Duel Monster cards, and on the base where the statue stood, there was a message engraved;

_**Prince Yugi Mutou;**_

_**Game King Forever**_

Yugi, Tristan, the female servant and the crew all sweatdropped.

"Um…_wow_," Yugi said at last awkwardly. "Uh…well, if it helps them see me as a strong _ruler_…I _guess_ it works…"

"Oh_ c'mon_, prince," laughed the captain. "You couldn't look _that_ serious if you _tried_."

The female servant and Tristan laughed. Yugi grinned.

"Fortunately there's another present here for you, Yugi," the female servant informed him, bringing over a smaller package. "And it's from the king, so hopefully it'll be a bit more like you."

Yugi giggled as he took the package from her. "Thanks, Tea…I wonder what it is…I'm sure Grandpa got me something interesting…"

His fingers ripped away the paper to reveal a solid gold box with hieroglyphics on it; when Yugi opened it, he picked out a handful of odd-looking gold pieces.

"What is it?" asked Tristan.

"It looks like some kind of abstract art," Tea commented, "except in pieces…"

'_That's no art,'_ thought Atemu. _'That's a puzzle.'_

"It's a _puzzle_!" Yugi said what Atemu had been thinking, sounding excited as he looked at the hieroglyphs on the box. "On the box, it says…_'Whomever solves me may ask me for one wish.' Wow_! A _wish_! I wonder what I'll wish for…"

"Maybe you should ask for a _woman_, prince," the captain teased, and the red-haired sailor chuckled. "After all, hasn't the king been pressuring you to marry?"

Yugi sighed. "But I don't just want to marry _any_ person, Valon…especially a _woman_, you _know_ I don't like them like that. I mean…is it such a _crime_ for people to fall in _love_ anymore?"

"Love takes _time_, Yugi," Tristan pointed out. "And the king doesn't _have_ much time…he's just trying to make sure you'll be alright when he's gone."

"I have _you_ guys, don't I?" Yugi answered with a slight scoff, and Atemu had to let go of the edge of the ship and fall back into the water as the human prince had stood up on the edge of the ship, holding onto the rigging, as if he were a real sailor instead of a prince. "I know he's out there somewhere, Tristan, I just…haven't _found_ him yet."

'_Oh, just look down, Yugi,'_ thought Atemu, his heart aching. _'I…I might be the person you're looking for…you're the one for me…I want to be the one for you too…'_

"Maybe you haven't been looking hard enough," Tea suggested.

"Believe me, Tea," Yugi replied, looking out to sea and closing his eyes, "when I find him, I'll know! It'll just…_hit_ me…like lightning!"

Then, out of nowhere, a bolt of lightning crashed through the silent calm on the darkening night sky, accompanied by a loud blast of thunder that made Yugi's violet eyes shoot open in surprise.

"Oh _no_!" Seto realized. "King Aknamkanon must be mad about something…he must have found out about your disappearance earlier today, Atemu!"

"C'mon!" urged Joey. "We have to get back, it's not safe up here!"

The blue and green-tailed mermen dove into the water back toward the kingdom, but Atemu stayed put.

'I have to make sure Yugi and his crew get to safety…' 

The wind howled and the ocean waves crashed, making it hard for Atemu watch the action on the ship. He could hear the humans' voice garble together so that he couldn't tell who was talking or what they were saying.

A bolt of lightning glided down jaggedly from the skies and hit the boat with a loud _CRASH_, before the sails were alit in an orange, red and yellow glow Atemu realized must be fire.

It shocked the mer-prince when he had to jump out of the way as to avoid the path of the ship's lifeboat dropping down into the water. Atemu quickly counted the people in the boat: Tristan, Valon, the other two sailors-

'_Yugi!'_ thought Atemu in alarm. _'Where are Yugi and his friend Tea?'_

"_GO_! GO, _NOW_!"

Atemu looked up at the sound of Yugi's voice, to see Yugi push Tea off the boat into the water near the lifeboat. She squirmed around, trying to float, as she obviously couldn't swim before Tristan and Valon grabbed her arm and pulled her into the lifeboat.

"YUGI!" shouted Tristan. "_YUGI_! WHERE ARE YOU?"

Atemu squinted, trying to find his human love amongst the smoke and fiery glow enveloping the ship.

"I CAN'T LEAVE MY PUZZLE BEHIND!" Yugi's voice rang out.

The sailors and servants tried to call Yugi back, but the prince wouldn't be swayed, instead searching the ship for the gold box.

Then, out of nowhere, there was an enormous _BOOM_ that blasted Atemu away from the ship as it exploded in a blast of fire and gunpowder. When Atemu had surfaced, he stared in horror as broken remains of the ship floated warily above the water…and Yugi was nowhere in sight.

"YUGI!" Tea's cries echoed through the still as the lifeboat was shoved out of sight by the saves. "YUGI! _YUGI_!"

Atemu dove underneath the water fearfully, and his eyes widened at the sight of an unconscious Yugi, the gold box tight under his arm, falling down through the dark water.

The merprince swam down as fast as he could, snatched the human prince into his arms, puzzle box and all, and pulled him up to the surface.

_'I've got you, my Yugi…I will not let you die…'_


	4. Chapter 3: Impossible to Love You

_**Chapter 3: Impossible to Love You**_

Atemu heaved the unconscious Yugi onto the sandy shore of the beach, panting slightly as he searched the handsome boy for signs of life.

'_Oh, if only I remembered where you were supposed to feel humans for a pulse…'_ the mer-prince thought frantically, feeling Yugi's shoulder and thigh. _'Where's Ryou when you need him?'_

Fortunately when Atemu felt around his face, he felt Yugi breathing, and he sighed in relief.

Atemu stroked Yugi's wet tricolor hair out of his face, contemplating on his angelic features.

_'Oh Yugi…if only I could stay here with you forever…what would I give to stay here forever with you and make you smile…?'_

A quiet moan escaped Yugi's lips as his violet eyes struggled to open. In the light of the sun slowly peeking out from behind the clouds, he saw a handsome face with sharp-lidded eyes and hair that fell wet onto his shoulders.

"_Who_…?" Yugi whispered.

The face smiled.

"Don't worry, my little aibou," he answered in a deep, rich voice that almost instantly made Yugi relax. "You're safe now."

Yugi's mind was clouded. He was so sure that the ship exploded and he had drowned…did this man save his life?

'_His eyes are so…passionate…so…wonderful…who is he?'_

"_YUGI_!"

The man looked up, before retreating out of sight. Yugi would've called _"Wait!"_ and pulled him back, but he didn't have enough strength to get up and the salt water was blurring his senses.

He found himself being jumped on by Tea as she hugged him in relief, crying to the Heavens frantically.

"Oh thank the _Gods_, Yugi! We thought you were…oh _Yugi_!"

But Yugi wasn't paying attention; he looked around desperately, hoping to see his savior's retreating back so he could call him back and thank him…but it was as if the man had disappeared.

Yugi looked down at the gold puzzle box in his hand, and his fingers clenched determinedly around it.

'_Now I know what I'll wish for,'_ he thought to himself, looking out at the sky. _'I'll wish to find the person who rescued me…the man who called me…"aibou"…'_

Atemu in reality wasn't that far away; he was hiding behind a rock off the shore watching Tristan run over and aid Yugi to his feet and the two servants pulling him back toward the palace.

"_ATEMU_!"

Seto and Joey worriedly swam over to their friend on the rock.

"What in the seven seas do you think you were _doing_?" Seto shouted at him. "_Saving a human_…! You _know_ contact with humans is _forbidden_! What if his servants had _seen_ you? You could've been skewered with a harpoon and made into a _shish-kabob_!"

But Atemu didn't care about anything Seto said; the grin on his face made almost look drunk with happiness as he looked back at Yugi walking away with the aid of Tea and Tristan.

Seto looked irritated at being ignored and he was about to swim over and turn Atemu around himself, but Joey grabbed his shoulder and held him back.

"Let him be," the blond merman murmured with a slight smile. "Love doesn't let you think sensibly."

Seto blinked in surprise at him.

"_What_?" asked Joey.

"That…was really _deep_, dogfish."

Joey scowled and turned away. "Contrary to your beliefs, rich boy, people who live in stuffy palaces aren't the _only_ people who know about the world."

Seto flinched a little. He knew that Joey lived with his father in a more run-down section of the kingdom; of course, when they were children, Seto used to tease Joey about this a lot…but now as Seto eyed the _"J"_ cut on Joey's tail that for some reason hadn't healed at all in the last ten years, he wondered if his old insults toward Joey's family had hurt him more than he'd let on.

Atemu wasn't paying attention to his cousin and friend's conversation, instead looking up at the white marble palace that Yugi must have lived in.

"One day, Yugi," he vowed as a whisper, "someday, I'll find a way…to be part of your world…"

Little did the three mermen know that two sets of eyes were watching them…eyes that belonged to two impish-looking mermen with matching blue-green eel tails and an odd circle-surrounded, six-pointed star symbol on their foreheads…and only the two mermen ever heard a psychic message of

"_Keep an eye on that little prince, you two…wait for the right moment…and then bring him to me."_

* * *

Days passed normally, but there was a very different air around the palace. Atemu had been oddly cheerful and dreamy, and it was a bit unnerving to see the rule-rebel prince gathering sea flowers early in the morning to arrange in the vases in the conference rooms and bedrooms and combing his hair obsessively in front of every mirror he swam around while humming a dreamy tune to himself.

The males of the court excluding Seto were baffled by the prince's strange behavior. Isis, however, smiled knowingly as she watched Atemu depart one morning, for she could tell exactly what was going on.

"My," she murmured in an unfathomable tone. "He's got it bad."

The mermen looked at her, confused.

"What?" Mahaado asked stupidly. "What has he got?"

"Isn't it _obvious_?" inquired Isis, looking mildly disbelieving they hadn't figured it out. "Atemu's in love."

Aknadin and Mahaado exchanged a look. Karim looked disbelieving.

"Atemu…in _love_?"

* * *

Seto irritably swam around the cluster of ships until he caught sight of the ocean liner that hid Atemu's secret grotto, hoping to find his vague-acting cousin there after sitting through their lessons with Shada all alone.

When he entered the grotto, he was not surprised to see Joey there…but he was surprised to note the white-haired mermen talking with him. One of them had his white hair short and messy and had tan skin and a scarred red tail. The other had long hair, pale skin like Joey's and a turquoise tail.

"Rich boy?"

Joey noticed Seto's presence first, making the white-haired mermen turn to look at him.

The longhaired albino's face broke out into a smile. "Seto, is that _you_? Wow, you've grown a lot…and I thought Atemu was small compared to you _before_…"

Seto inclined his head. "You've changed too, I see, Ryou. You were the _last_ person I ever saw choosing an aibou."

The shorthaired albino glared at Seto with distrustful lilac eyes. "_Oh_? And _how_ exactly do you know Aibou enough to attempt to _make_ such an assumption?"

"Bakura, _chill_," Ryou told him, gripping his shoulder both reproachfully and soothingly. "Seto was a childhood friend of mine, Joey's and Atemu's…he's Atemu's cousin, and one of his High Priests."

Bakura raised an eyebrow. "A _High Priest_, huh? Well then, I have a right to be concerned, chibi Aibou…he's probably one of the people who _banished_ you."

"_Bakura_!" Ryou admonished, whacking him upside the head. "Seto wasn't old enough to be responsible for that…and I _did_ break the rules of the kingdom! The Court had no choice."

Bakura rubbed his aching head. "They _had_ the choice whether or not to _excuse_ you, and they _didn't_!"

"That's not their place," Ryou rebuked.

Seto nodded. "Only King Aknamkanon has the right to overturn laws…we only advise him and fulfill the punishments."

"_Coward_," snarled Bakura, "making his lapdogs do all the _dirty_ work-_OW_!"

Ryou whacked him on the head again. Seto's eyes narrowed.

"What right do _you _have to talk about us as if we're evil people? Our _job _is to _hunt _the evil people that break our laws and defile the goodness of the world; we're _not _evil."

Bakura's eyes widened dangerously, and Seto immediately got the feeling he went too far. The short-haired albino didn't make any violent movement toward him, however; instead he scowled at him and swam off underneath one of the longest shelves so he could curl up in a ball and hide there like a shark hiding in the dark for prey. Ryou swam over to try and comfort him, stroking the scales of his tail gently and whispering to him reassuringly. Seto looked at Joey confusedly.

Joey sighed. "Your words were…the wrong sort to say to Bakura…he's really sensitive about our government and how it's run. From what I've heard from Ryou, he lived in a village of social outcasts outside the kingdom…some of them were banished, some were criminals from the kingdom trying to start over…_anyone_ really…anyway, one of the members of Atemu's father's court sent a group of assassins to wipe out the village, hearing a rumor that they had sponsored a group of terrorists that were plotting to attack the kingdom…we _still_ don't know to this day if that rumor was _true_…but Bakura was the only survivor…he was only a merboy at the time."

Joey looked sadly sympathetic just talking about it, and Seto inadvertently felt a similar wave of sadness wash over him at the look on his face.

'_Why do I feel this way?'_ Seto thought vaguely. _'I haven't felt pity in years…I haven't felt anything compassionate in years…ever since I became a High Priest…I had to put my feelings aside…what is happening to me? Why am I starting to feel again?'_

He looked at Joey as the blond merman brushed past him so that he could join Ryou next to Bakura and try to help comfort him.

'_Could it be because of the dogfish?'_

Seto shook his head furiously to try and clear it.

_'No! No, of course not! I just…need to meditate in my room for a while…yeah…'_

And so he swam out of the grotto without another word. He blindly swam the path back to the palace, trying to block Joey from his mind.

_'Get a grip, you moron! It's the dogfish! That scrawny little boy that always used to tag around with Atemu! The one that got into fights everyday…the one that was so fun to irritate…the one with that messy blond hair that cascaded into his face to shape his warm brown eyes…DAMN IT, NO! STOP THAT!'_

"_Seto_!"

The brown-haired merman snapped out of his thoughts to see his father, Aknadin, swimming quickly toward him.

"Father?" asked Seto. "What's going on?"

Aknadin stopped to catch his breath. "The king has requested an audience with you…I think it's something about Atemu."

Seto's heart stopped. _'Oh no…what if he knows…?'_

He forced the terror out of his expression quickly and nodded seriously. "Alright…I'll meet him at once."

As Seto swam past Aknadin toward the palace, he felt a type of queasy feeling in his stomach. It was very rare for the king to receive an audience with someone, particularly a single person; usually the Court bore most of the responsibility of interacting with the people, so the king usually saw very few others besides his aibou and his Court. Needless to say, Seto had very good reason to be nervous at being called personally by King Aknamkanon.

When he got to the door of the throne room and was about to knock, the blue-tailed High Priest hesitated.

_'Easy, Seto…this isn't necessarily what you think…he might not know…just remain…calm.'_

He took a deep breath, before raising a hand and knocking on the door.

"Come in," answered a royally deep voice not that unsimilar to Atemu's.

Seto slowly turned the handle on the door and pushed it open.

Atemu's father, King Aknamkanon, was sitting in his golden throne, carrying his green magical staff that helped him control the weather and the ocean. The king, like Seto's own father Aknadin, had dark facial hair and heavy eyebrows, and his fishtail shone a similar color to the gold crown that adorned the white headdress on his head.

"You…requested an audience with me, Your Highness?"

"Yes," Aknamkanon answered. "I wonder, nephew, would you close the door?"

'_Well, he doesn't sound angry…'_ Seto thought in slight relief as he nodded and closed the door behind him.

"I've been growing a bit concerned," Aknamkanon admitted quietly. "I've noticed my son has been acting odd lately. According to Shada, he's been skipping his classes even more than usual, and no one seems to know why. I thought you, as you're the closest to Atemu out of all of his Court, might know something I don't."

Seto tried not to look nervous. "I don't believe I do, Your Highness."

Aknamkanon looked quite grave, as if he suspected Seto wasn't telling the whole truth. The blue-tailed merman turned to leave.

"Seto…is there something you wish to tell me?"

Seto froze. He hadn't meant to react so fearfully, but the king's words had filled him with a type of horrible deja vu. It was like a knife had pierced his heart and flooded his body with a cold poison.

"_**Seto…is there something you wish to tell me?**_

Aknamkanon's words echoed in his head, before it slowly morphed into a question his own father had asked him so long ago…

"_**Son, is there something you wish to tell me?"**_

Then another voice, a young boy's, replaced his father's in his head…

"_**Promise me you won't tell Dad, big brother!"**_

And then Joey's replaced the young boy's…

"…**If you swear not to tell anyone about this…especially not Atemu's father…I'll show you where Atemu went. Agreed?"**

And then the voice of a teenager…his own.

"_**Mokuba! No! MOKUBA!"**_

"Seto?"

Aknamkanon's concerned voice shot Seto out of his thoughts. At first, the young merman didn't answer the king…then he finally replied in a very quiet voice,

"Yes…there is."


	5. Chapter 4: Dreams Shattered

_**Chapter 4: Dreams Shattered, Pasts Disclosed**_

It had taken a while for Ryou, Bakura and Joey to locate the dreamy mer-prince, but they finally found Atemu daydreaming on the rock on the beach he'd placed Yugi on, picking the petals off of a sea flower and muttering _"He loves me…he loves me not,"_ under his breath. It also took a while for them to convince Atemu to come back to his grotto to see the surprise the three had prepared for him; the prince at last agreed to go with them, as soon as he was finished plucking the petals off the flower and confirming Yugi did in fact love him.

"_C'mon_, you guys…_really_!" Atemu moaned impatiently as Ryou pulled him along. "Why don't you just tell me what's going _on_? It _can't_ be important enough for you to have interrupted me!"

"Oh _yeah_, it couldn't _possibly_," Bakura said sarcastically. "_Nothing's_ more important than sitting on a rock and plucking petals off of a flower."

Atemu flushed. Ryou reached over to smack Bakura on the head in response.

"Shut up," the long-haired albino reproached. "_You_ used to daydream all the time too, Bakura; don't go beating up on Atemu."

Bakura pouted. "That's _different_! I was daydreaming about _you_, Aibou…" his mouth went up in a mischievous smirk, "…and all the wonderful things we could do in bed."

Ryou shot Bakura a warning look, his cheeks quite pink.

"C'mon Bakura, talk like that _later_," Joey laughed, "like when you two are back home and away from _us_. We don't need you two making out on top of Atemu's present."

"_Ah_, that sounds _delightful_," Bakura chuckled darkly, making Ryou go even redder and whack him on the head yet again.

Joey covered Atemu's eyes as Ryou and Bakura led him into the grotto, and finally when Joey uncovered the mer-prince's eyes, he was shocked and delighted to see a very familiar marble statue of a young man with spiky hair, a determined smirk and a board device on his arm used to play Duel Monsters.

It was the statue Yugi had received on the ship as a birthday present from his kingdom.

Atemu immediately squealed in delight and glomped each of his friends tightly. "Ryou…Joey, Bakura…you three are the _best_! Oh thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, _THANK YOU_!"

"I'd say he likes it," Bakura joked toward Joey and Ryou as their tricolor-haired friend swam around the Yugi figure excitedly.

"It looks just _like_ him!" Atemu exclaimed to no one but himself, looking into the statue's confident face. "It even has his eyes…" he chuckled and play-acted dreamily, "Why, Yugi…run _away_ with you?" he laughed again and put on a seductive tone as he caressed the marble face, "I never knew you could be so…_persuasive_, little one…"

The other three smiled vaguely at seeing Atemu so happy; it was only when Joey noticed someone by the door of the grotto that the prince's daydream was interrupted.

"Hey Seto," greeted the blond merman, acting a little friendlier with the High Priest than usual. Seto sure noticed it, too.

Unfortunately, when the person that had been hiding in the shadows behind Seto came into the light, everyone in the grotto stopped dead.

"_F_-_Father_," Atemu stammered in absolute terror, frozen by the statue of Yugi like a startled cat.

King Aknamkanon was not happy. The green magic staff he held in his hand was glowing to highlight his anger and his face had no sign of the normal pity or compassion Atemu was used to seeing on his face. Of course, all such expressions were absent when the king was angry. Now that the four were focusing on something other than Atemu's daydreaming, they realized the tense movement of the ocean around them and heard the thunder echoing in the sky above.

"Atemu," Aknamkanon stated very coldly as his eyes surveyed the grotto, "_what_ is all _this_?"

"I-it's just…my…collection," said Atemu, trying to steady his voice but not quite succeeding.

"I see," Aknamkanon replied coldly as he swam closer to his son, making Bakura swim in front of Ryou protectively. "And is the _human_ you saved from _drowning_ down here as _well_?"

Joey's eyes shot to Seto; his expression was so unreadable, he looked almost dead.

"You…you _didn't_! _You_…"

The blond's voice was filled in pure disbelief. When Seto didn't answer, his eyes narrowed.

"How…how _could_ you! You…_YOU LYING BASTARD_!" Joey shouted, his fists clenched as if it were only Akanamkanon's presense that was keeping him from jumping on Seto and hitting every bit of him he could grab.

Atemu didn't answer his father's rhetorical question, instead saying, "What _else_ could I have done, Father? He would've _died_!"

"One _less_ human to worry about!" snapped Aknamkanon. "They're all the _same_…spineless, cruel, disgusting fish-eaters, incapable of any _feeling_-"

Those words were enough to make Atemu forget everything about his father: his power, his authority, his age…everything that gave Akanamkanon more influence than him.

"DON'T YOU _EVER_ TALK ABOUT YUGI LIKE THAT!" Atemu roared, all sense and dignity forgotten. "HE'S KIND AND BRAVE AND INNOCENT AND PURE! HE'S THE MOST BEAUTIFUL PERSON I'VE EVER MET…_HE'S MY AIBOU_!"

Everyone but Atemu stiffened in alarm at those words; Seto's eyes widened. Naming someone as an Aibou was no trivial action…once someone decided an Aibou, they would have to be faithful to their decided _"partner,"_ or die.

"Have you lost your senses _completely_?" Aknamkanon whispered at last in a very dangerous tone. "He's a _human_; you're a _merman_!"

"I don't care," Atemu snarled fiercely. "I _love_ him!"

"You don't even know what love _is_, Atemu!" disputed Aknamkanon, his temper rising. "You only desire what you can't _have_, as _all_ teenagers do!"

"_Oh_?" Atemu growled, his red eyes narrowing. "And I suppose you were just _desiring_ Mother, because you couldn't have possibly been in love in _her_!"

Aknamkanon snapped at the mention of his deceased wife. "So help me, Atemu…I'm going to get _through_ to you…and if _this_ is the only way…" he pointed his staff at one of the shelves of the grotto as it glowed with magic, "…so be it."

Light shot out of his staff, blasting at the games on shelves like green and purple lightning. Atemu cried out for his father to stop as each of his treasures were obliterated before his eyes. Ryou buried his face into Bakura's chest to look away from the fury of the sea king, and Bakura buried his face into his lover's hair, trying to block out the destructive light and the prince's screams. Joey looked like a dog in pain as he watched Atemu plead with Aknamkanon; the light reflected in Seto's wide blue eyes as the High Priest watched on in horror. Atemu at last swam in front of his father, trying to pull his magic staff out of his hands in an attempt to end the devastation, before realizing he'd left the marble sculpture of Yugi unprotected.

"FATHER, _NO_!"

His cry was in vain, for Aknamkanon pointed his staff at the statue and a final blast of light hit it, blowing it into a thousand pieces with a thunder-like _crash_.

Atemu stared brokenly at the destroyed statue of his beloved, before falling to the ocean floor where the remains lay and beginning to sob.

"Aibou…" he moaned. "_Aibou_…"

Aknamkanon stared at his son for a moment, as if realizing what he'd done, before regretfully shoving the guilt aside and leaving the grotto. Seto, moving for the first time in minutes, hesitantly swam toward his crying cousin.

"_Atemu_…"

"Get out," Atemu hissed dangerously at the sound of his voice.

"Atemu-"

"_GET OUT_!" Atemu shouted, looking fiercely up at his cousin to reveal the steady lines of tears running down his face.

Seto, like Aknamkanon, studied Atemu for a moment, before quietly turning away and swimming out of the grotto without another word. Joey immediately swam after him, despite Ryou and Bakura's attempt to pull him back.

"Rich boy!"

Seto turned to look at Joey just in time for…

_SMACK_!

Joey had punched him right in the face with all of his strength, making him fall back, gripping his cheek.

"_Joey_!" Ryou cried, as Bakura and he grabbed Joey's arms and held him back so he couldn't hit Seto again. The long-haired albino looked worried; the short-haired albino looked just as murderous as Joey, but nevertheless restrained the blond so he couldn't hurt Seto further.

"_You filthy son of a bitch_!" Joey shouted, struggling to pull out of his friends' grasp. "You _promised_ you wouldn't tell anyone! You _promised_!"

"I promised I wouldn't tell if Atemu wasn't having _contact_ with humans," Seto murmured in a very dead tone, still holding his cheek and looking down so his eyes were in shadow.

Joey's eyes filled with fire and his fight to escape from Bakura and Ryou's restraint increased. "Atemu _loves_ that human! You _couldn't_ have been stupid enough _not_ to see it!"

"Stop it," Seto whispered.

But Joey didn't listen. "_No_ amount of duty gives you the right to rip someone away from the one he _loves_!"

"_Stop it_," Seto repeated, his voice becoming firmer and angrier.

"No, I _won't_ stop!" Joey retorted. "Just because _you're_ heartless _doesn't_ give you the right to stop _others_ from feeling compassion and love! Just because _you're_ unable to love doesn't mean you can stop _others_ from loving!"

"_STOP MAKING ME FEEL_!" Seto roared, grabbing Joey's shoulders and pulling him out of Ryou and Bakura's arms. His eyes were filled with tears and flaring blue passion, and although his voice was filled with anger, there was another emotion there as well that Joey at first did not recognize as grief.

Seto bowed his head so that his eyes were in darkness once more as he gained control of himself.

"I didn't tell Aknamkanon because of _duty_…I just…didn't want it to happen again…"

Joey stared, his anger at Seto slowly dissipating. He'd never seen the blue-tailed merman crying before. "_Again_…?"

Seto let go of the blond's shoulders and turned away.

"When we were little…before I started my training as a High Priest…my younger brother Mokuba was fascinated by humans…"

"_Mokuba_…" Ryou recurred, sounding pensive. "That little black-haired merboy that used to cheer you on whenever you had races with Atemu?"

"Yeah," assented the brown-haired High Priest quietly. "He…used to disappear to the surface a lot…eventually I caught him at it, and saw him talking to a human girl on the shore. I confronted him and he pleaded for me not to tell our father…he told me that he'd been meeting her for quite some time…that they'd become very good friends. I _couldn't_ say no to my little brother…so I promised I wouldn't tell. Mokuba made a few more visits…my father got suspicious as to what was going on…but I had _promised_ not to tell, so I kept my mouth shut. But…but then…" his voice cracked, "…one day when Mokuba went to visit the girl…he found himself faced instead with the girl's scientist uncle…who had brought a fishing net with him…"

Joey's eyes widened; Ryou gasped in horror.

"He _captured_ him…didn't he?" inquired Bakura, his eyes very grim.

Seto nodded. "There's no way he could've survived that long out of the water…his scales would've dried out within the first ten minutes."

He turned back to them, not paying any mind to his still-moist cheeks. "It was after losing him…I decided to become a High Priest…a High Priest _never_ let love cloud their reason…they could _stop_ things like that from _happening_…"

"And _that's_ why you weren't around for that long while, isn't it?" asked Joey. "Why you disappeared when we were kids?"

Seto nodded again. "High Priests must be taught in _solitude_…I was kept inside for seven years…I didn't even see my cousin or my father until my training was almost complete…I was dead inside and out…" he looked right at Joey, "…and then I met _you_ again, dogfish…and you screwed up _everything_. Ever since I saw you again, you made me keep _feeling_. You're making me _weak_, dogfish…I hope you're _happy_."

He didn't sound angry, more like sadly amused. Joey couldn't make himself smile, though, instead putting a hand on Seto's shoulder.

"Look…I _know_ you've had bad experiences with humans…but not _all_ humans are bad. _Hell_, Atemu is naming one as his _aibou_, for crying out loud! They're like merpeople…it's hard to know which ones you can _trust_ and which ones you should _fear_…and your brother is not the _only_ one to make the wrong judgement…but believe me, Seto…" Seto definitely noticed Joey's second use of his name, "…you're allowed to feel both distrust and gratitude to humans."

Joey sighed as he withdrew his hand from Seto's shoulder. "My sister Serenity and I were really close like you and Mokuba were when we were really little…my dad is…well, nothing like yours or Atemu's fathers, let me just say that. So Serenity and I never really hung around at home…even Mom didn't stay around home, she went out and about with her friends a lot of the time. One day Serenity and I decided to play hide-and-seek in a bunch of seaweed on a sea plateau…suddenly Serenity pointed out a bunch of black water above our heads that we'd never seen before. I noticed some fish around it coughing and wheezing and decided that it probably wasn't a good idea to go near it…but Serenity was curious, so she swam toward it. I yelled for her to come back, but she wouldn't listen. She started coughing as she went around it…I did too when I tried to follow her. When she started to the surface, she got a big faceful of the black water…all I heard was her scream before she swam back down blindly, trying to find me…" he swallowed, "…the black water damaged her eyes permenantly…she's now blind."

Seto felt a wave of pity wash over him. "I'm…I'm sorry."

The words felt foreign on his tongue; Joey too seemed a bit surprised at hearing such words coming from him, but still gave him a small smile, grateful for his sympathy.

"After that, my mom took Serenity away with her…she reasoned that it was _impossible_ for a weak woman like her and a blind girl like my sister to live safely in the same house as my father…but she couldn't see a way to take both of us with her _without_ having my father go after her, so she left me behind. She thought that I could take care of _myself_…and I _have_. I went back a few days later to see if the black water was still there…only to find humans cleaning it up. They called it _'oil'_ and were concerned about it killing off all the fish in the area…obviously the _'oil'_ was the fault of humans…but they took responsibility for what they did and saved many more fish and merpeople by doing so…so in a way I'm _glad_ some humans are there…to help protect the fish and merpeople closer to the surface."

Seto considered Joey for a moment, before saying, "It was _him_. That scar on your tail…all those bruises you claimed were from fights or accidents…your _father_ did those things, didn't he?"

Joey looked back at Seto for a moment, and then slowly nodded. Seto's eyes narrowed, and he seemed to be resisting the temptation of pulling Joey into his arms and holding him protectively.

"Why did you never _say_ anything?"

Joey chuckled darkly. "C'mon Seto, those were still the days you used to tease me about living in a _tramp's_ house, remember?"

Seto flinched. "I…I never meant…"

"I know," Joey interrupted. "It still hurt, though…but hey, _neither_ of us were very friendly toward each other."

Ryou put a hand on Seto's shoulder and gave him a sad smile. "It's no time to feel regretful about things that are _over_, Seto."

Bakura nodded in agreement. "We all have _regrets_, High Priest; if we focus on them forever, we'll miss the important things in life and only have _more_ regrets."

Suddenly the four found a darkness come over them as three figures swam quickly over them, blocking the sunlight shining down through the water around them; they looked up to see two eel-tailed mermen, one with his long brown hair spiking out of a red skull cap onto his shoulders, the other with short light blue hair and round yellow glasses, accompanying a serious-looking Atemu away from his grotto.

"_Atemu_!"

Joey and Bakura swam in front of him so he couldn't swim any farther.

"What are you _doing_?" Joey demanded. "Why are you hanging around these loonies?"

The two eel-tailed merman stopped in their tracks and looked at Joey angrilly.

"_Excuse_ me?" the blue-haired merman snapped in an insect-like voice.

"_What_ did you call us?" demanded the merman with the skull-cap in a rough voice.

"You heard him," Bakura growled savagely, getting up in their faces as the eel-tailed mermen's tails lit up with angry electricity.

"Bakura, _no_," Ryou reproached firmly, grabbing him by his arm and pulling him back.

Atemu pushed both Joey and Bakura out of his way and continued swimming in the direction the eel-tailed merman had been taking him.

"Rex and Weevil are taking me to see Dartz," the mer-prince explained simply.

"_The Warlock of Orikalkos_?" Ryou repeated in horror. "Atemu, _no_!"

"You _can't_!" Seto argued, swimming in front of Atemu like Bakura and Joey had to stop him from going farther. "He's _dangerous_!"

Atemu shoved Seto out of the way so hard he slammed into the side of the ocean liner hiding his grotto from sight.

"_Seto_!"

Joey swam over and helped the High Priest up; Atemu, however, didn't look the least bit regretful for his actions.

"Why don't you go tell my _father_?" he snapped coldly at Seto. "You're _good_ at that!"

With that, he swam after the smirking Rex and Weevil. Seto weakly got up, his back aching.

"Are you okay?" Joey asked him.

Seto didn't answer his question, instead swimming after Atemu as fast as his fins could take him. Ryou, Bakura and Joey followed him, praying that they could stop Atemu before the infamous Warlock of Orikalkos put him into any harm.


	6. Chapter 5: A Memorable Transformation

_**Chapter 5: A Memorable Transformation**_

Atemu followed the sneaky-looking eel-tailed mermen, Rex and Weevil, through a dark, sinister canyon of underwater volcanoes, trying to ignore the chilling sensation that went down his spine as he approached the entrance to the castle of Dartz, Warlock of Orikalkos.

Unlike his father's grand, majestic coral palace, this castle was small and made of black pearl, and the jagged walls that bent inward into the structure acted as a sort of terrifying birdcage. Against the black pearl walls were stone slabs with scared and desperate-looking merpeople carved into them, their hands pressed against the stone as if they were trapped inside the artwork.

When Atemu finally tore his eyes away from the terrified stone faces and looked forward once more, he found himself faced with a man with long blue-green hair accompanied by spiky bangs, sharp-lidded eyes (one sea-green and the other gold) and a blue-green shark tail. He was sitting on a black zircon throne and around his neck was a turquoise pendent with a six-pointed star surrounded by a circle, and Atemu realized for the first time that it was the same symbol he'd noticed etched on Rex and Weevil's foreheads.

"Welcome, my child," Dartz greeted in a cold-sounding attempt of warm as he got up from his throne and swam over to greet the merprince. "Welcome to my home. Come here, sit down…"

With a flourish of his hand, another black chair appeared.

"…I won't _bite_."

Atemu thought inwardly that Dartz probably could've conveyed friendliness a little better were his blue-green and gold eyes not shining with a less than friendly glint. Nevertheless, the prince slowly sat in the chair he was offered, putting up a brave front to hide his intense foreboding; Dartz, on the other hand, did not sit back down.

"Now," he stated in a business-like tone, his shark tail swishing through the water restlessly, "you have come here because you have fallen in love with this human, Prince Yugi…"

He brandished his hand in a sweeping gesture, and a crystal-ball-like bubble appeared with a moving image of Yugi playing Duel Monsters against someone.

"…And you have chosen him as your aibou, against King Aknamkanon's wishes, _and_ despite the fact you two are separated by species…"

In the bubble's image, Yugi's opponent threw his cards down on the table in sour defeat as Tea and Tristan patted Yugi on his shoulders to congratulate him.

"…Am I missing anything?"

Atemu couldn't help but notice the sad, pensive look on Yugi's face very unlike his usual innocent, cheerful expression as he looked down at the Duel Monsters playing field.

"No," he answered.

Dartz smiled a wicked smile that could easily make someone shutter; Atemu, however, firmly kept up his confident front.

"I don't blame you at all, little prince," the Warlock murmured, caressing the bubble with Yugi's image like a shark looking over his current prey. "He _is_ quite a _catch_, isn't he? So _pure_ of a soul…_very_ hard to come by these days…"

Dartz must've noticed the dangerous flash in Atemu's eyes, for he popped the bubble and went straight back to business.

"Well, my little blackfish, the solution to this dilemma of yours is actually quite _simple_…"

He settled down again on his throne.

"The only way to get what you want…is to become a human _yourself_."

Atemu's eyes widened. "You can _do_ that?"

Dartz's mouth curled up in a smirk.

"Why, my boy…that's my _job_, what I'm _here_ for…do you _honestly_ think you're the _only_ merman who has had problems with life down here? You see Rex and Weevil here? Once greatly respected and wealthy, only to have their money and fame stolen away from them by one business scandal. They were poor, unfortunate souls, just like you…and _here_, they were welcomed with opens arms into the family of the Orikalkos."

The Warlock put a cold, spider-like hand on Atemu's shoulder.

"And the Orikalkos can help _you_ too, Atemu…all you have to do is _trust_ it…and it will make _all_ your dreams come _true_."

Despite his promises, Atemu couldn't help but look back at the terrified merpeople etched into the stone slabs by the wall, but Dartz's cold hand gripped his chin and made him face forward once more.

"Now listen carefully," the shark-tailed merman said seriously. "I will cast a spell on you that will transform you into a human for three days…_just_ _three_, so make them _count_, little blackfish. Before the sun sets on the third day, you've got to make little Yugi fall in love with you. In other words, he must give you his first, _binding_ kiss…_the kiss of true love_. If he _does_ kiss you before sunset on the third day, you will remain human for the rest of the _eternity_…but, if he _doesn't_, you'll turn back into a merman and…"

His eyes grew a dark, menacing glint that made Atemu shrink back as he tapped the Orikalkos pendant around his neck with one of his long pale fingers.

"…Your soul belongs to _me_."

"_NO, ATEMU_!"

Atemu turned around at the sound of Seto's voice.

His cousin and friends had been about to swim over to him, but were stopped by Rex and Weevil at the doorway of the throne-room. Joey was struggling to pull Seto out of Rex's grasp as he shocked the High Priest with electricity from his eel tail; Weevil held Ryou in front of himself like a shield so Bakura wouldn't go any further, either to hurt Weevil or to stop Atemu from negotiating with Dartz.

"_Don't hurt them_!" Atemu shouted, starting forward, but Dartz grabbed him by the arm and pulled him back.

"Forgive them," the Warlock told him. "I prefer to keep the meetings with my clients _private_…after all, your decision _deserves_ to be your _own_, _not_ your _friends'_…"

He extended a hand to Atemu.

"So…have we got a deal?"

Atemu looked away from Dartz to look at the floor, thinking.

"If I become human…" he muttered pensively, "I'll never be with my friends or family again…"

"That's true," Dartz granted. "But…you'll have your _aibou_, won't you? And isn't he the one you _love_? Isn't _he_ more important than _anything_?"

Atemu felt an odd sort of guilt flood him.

'_Of course he is…how could I think of the others instead of Yugi? He's my aibou…but…is this really the right thing to do…?'_

He forced that thought from his mind.

'_I love him…even if Dartz is dangerous, I have to take that risk…for Yugi's sake…'_

"Oh," Dartz said suddenly as if he'd just remembered something. "There is _one_ more thing we must discuss…_payment_."

"I'll pay as much as you want-" Atemu started desperately.

"Ah, ah, ah," Dartz interrupted him, waggling his finger at him as if he were telling off a child who had done something wrong. "Don't go talking to me about _money_, little prince. I'm not one of your father's _citizens_…your kingdom's system of money is _useless_ to me. Therefore, we must conduct a _trade_…I've always been one for a bargain. But you've not to fear…what I ask for a trifle: for _my_ spell…_your_ memory."

Atemu's face scrunched up in confusion.

"My…_memory_?"

"You've got it, little blackfish," replied Dartz. "_I'll_ give you the chance to be with your _aibou_…if _you_ just give up all memories of your home and your past."

"But if I don't have my _memory_, how will I remember my love for _Yugi_?" Atemu demanded. "How will I remember the terms of our _deal_?"

"Not to worry," Dartz assured him. "As soon as you see Yugi again, your feelings for him will reawaken…the only memory you'll have _beyond_ that are the contents of my spell. If you _think_ about it, little prince, it makes everything _so_ much _easier_; you won't have to worry about anything about your father's kingdom accidentally _slipping_ out…"

"Yugi would believe me," Atemu argued fiercely. "He would _never_ hurt _anyone_!"

"But who _knows_ who might overhear you or Yugi talking about merpeople?" Dartz asked quietly. "Who _knows_ who might take _advantage_ of such information? Not _all_ humans are bad, of course…but would you _really_ want to take the risk that a _bad_ human could learn of your father's _kingdom_…and that it would be all _your_ fault?"

Atemu turned away, not wanting to show Dartz the pain in his eyes.

_'I may be angry with Father, but…after what happened to Mokuba…to Joey's sister…'_

He closed his eyes.

'_I can't let anyone else get hurt.'_

He turned back to Dartz.

"Very well, Dartz…I accept your terms."

"_Atemu…no_!" choked Ryou, still struggling to get out of Weevil's grasp.

"_DON'T_!" Joey and Bakura shouted in unison.

Dartz smirked and held up his pendant as the water around him and the prince made a swirling wall of purple and black bubbles around them, blocking them from the sight of the others.

"_ATEMU_!" Atemu heard Seto's voice echo outside the wall. "_ATEMU_!"

Dartz extended his pointer finger to gently touch Atemu on the forehead as he started chanting his ominous spell…

"_**Reject your past;**_

_**Embrace the night;**_

_**Remember naught**_

_**But your sole light;**_

_**Be not fish;**_

_**Forget the sea**_

_**And instead become**_

_**What you wish to be!"**_

The words slammed through Atemu's head as if he were having a migraine, making it hard for him to focus. His vision had gone black and the voices of his friends blurred together in his mind…his head was throbbing so hard…all he could feel was that single cold finger on his forehead…

_'What's…happening…to me…? Why…does my head hurt…so much…?'_

It hurt so much to think…to try to understand…

Tears streamed down the prince's face and he shouted out in pain, struggling to pull away from the cold finger and this pain…but no matter what he tried, he just couldn't make it stop…

_'Just take the pain away…please, just take the pain away…'_

Suddenly the cold finger on Atemu's forehead withdrew, taking the pain along with it.

His vision slowly returned, to recognize a strange, turquoise-haired man with a sea-green shark-tail where his legs should have been.

"Remember," the strange man cooed coldly, gripping the strange pendant around his neck in an odd type of triumph. "You have only three days to make Yugi fall in love with you…"

Darkness again engulfed Atemu's mind as pain shot through him like he was being ripped in half. Atemu cried out in pain, only to choke on water…he couldn't breathe…he couldn't think…

Weevil and Rex let go of the merprince's friends and Seto, Bakura, Joey and Ryou swam to Atemu's aid, pulling him as fast as they could toward the surface as Dartz roared with insane, victorious laughter. Atemu choked, struggling to breathe…and then, finally, Ryou shoved him above water.

They pulled the now human Atemu onto the shores of the beach, to find their friend lying motionless on the sand, his eyes closed. Seto slapped Atemu's face, trying to get him to wake up.

"_No_…Atemu, _please_…open your eyes!"

"_C'mon_, man," muttered Joey desperately, "_wake up_! You're okay!"

The prince coughed up some seawater, before his red eyes slowly peeked open and he blinked up at them.

"You're _alright_!" cried Ryou, jumping on Atemu and glomping him tightly. "I thought you…oh, thank the _gods_!"

Bakura's eyes flashed a little seeing Ryou glomping Atemu, but he nonetheless smiled slightly.

"Don't _ever_ scare us like that _again_, little prince…you'll give Aibou here a heart attack."

Atemu looked blankly at Bakura, and then at Ryou, then Seto and Joey.

"What's wrong?" Ryou said in concern, pulling away from Atemu and seeing the confused look in his red eyes. "Are you okay?"

The merprince-turned-human sat up and looked around at them all once more, as if he wasn't sure if he was dreaming.

"What's wrong, man?" Joey recurred.

Atemu stared at Joey, his eyes squinting at him in confusion.

"Who _are_ you?"


	7. Chapter 6: Love Amongst Oblivion

_**Chapter 6: Love Amongst Oblivion**_

At first none of the mermen said a word, instead staring at Atemu as if he'd grown a second head. Then Joey weakly stammered,

"W-_what_?"

"Who are you?" Atemu repeated, not understanding why Ryou, Bakura, Seto and Joey were looking at him the way they were. "Where am I? _Who_ am I?" he added as an afterthought.

Expressions of horror found their way onto the others' faces as they exchanged looks.

"C'mon, buddy," Joey pleaded, gripping Atemu's shoulders and shaking him desperately. "It's _me_, _Joey_! Your _best __friend_! Remember?"

Atemu blinked blankly at him. "_Friend_…?"

Seto looked ready to pull all of his hair out.

"This is a _disaster_! _Three_ _days_ for this moron to get that human to fall in _love_ with him, and he doesn't remember a _thing_? We've got to find King Aknamkanon…maybe he could go after Dartz and make him give Atemu his memory back and change him back into a merman-"

"No," Joey interrupted.

The blond was looking down at the sand, his eyes in shadow to hide the tears that were in his eyes at Atemu's memory-less questions.

"If he had his memory, he would _never_ allow that, Seto…if he got his memory back and he knew what you did…he would never forgive you for taking away his only chance to be with Yugi."

Seto's throat tightened and he looked down. He knew very well that Joey was right.

"Who's Yugi?"

The mermen turned to look at a confused-looking Atemu and then back at each other.

"Dartz said his feelings for Yugi would return when he saw him again," Ryou remembered. "So the _first_ thing we've got to do is find Yugi and lead him to Atemu."

"We just have to keep an eye on him after Yugi finds him," Bakura stated, "and make _sure_ he has opportunities to get Yugi to kiss him…then he'll complete Dartz's and his deal and he'll stay human forever and _maybe_ even get his memory back."

The other mermen nodded in agreement.

"_HELLO_?" snapped Atemu, very irritated at not being told anything. "Clueless person here! Tell me who are you, who is Yugi, who is Dartz, where am I, and why the _fucking_ hell do you guys have _tails_?"

Ryou, Joey, Seto and Bakura all sweatdropped.

"Um…" Joey started, but Ryou cut him off.

"I'm Ryou, they're Joey, Seto and Bakura; Yugi is the human you're in love with, Dartz is the guy that took away your memory, you're on the beach and we have tails because we're mermen."

He'd said this all very quickly and in one breath. Atemu blinked twice in surprise.

"Oh…okay. And…who am I again?"

The others groaned in frustration.

"It'd take _way_ too long to answer all your questions," Seto answered at last. "Just know that you have three days to make Yugi fall in love with you and kiss you."

"That's what that weird man said," Atemu remembered, rubbing his head slightly in perplexity. "That man with a tail sort of like yours…was _he_ a _'merman'_ too?"

"Yeah… that was Dartz," responded Bakura, growling slightly at the mention of the Warlock of Orikalkos. "But _don't_ talk about merpeople while you're up _here_, okay? Humans…aren't always _hospitable_ towards us."

"Oh," Atemu said blankly. "Sure. But why are you guys _here_? Do you work for Dartz?"

"_NO_!" chorused Joey, Seto, Ryou and Bakura at once, sounding offended.

"We're here to _help_ you, man," Joey explained. "We're your _friends_…well, we _were_ your friends, since you don't _remember_ us…"

Atemu looked guilty and didn't reply.

Joey shrugged it off. "Don't worry about it…it's not _your_ fault…Dartz took your memory away…I _couldn't_ expect you to remember what's not _there_."

"Anyway," Ryou stated in a straightforward tone, "we need to find Yugi…it's already late morning and we're running out of time fast."

"Aibou is right," Bakura agreed.

"_Aibou_?" repeated Atemu, looking from Ryou to Bakura in puzzlement. "I thought your name was _Ryou_."

"My name _is_ Ryou," Ryou assented. "_'Aibou' _is a term used for life companions…mates, if you will. It means _'partner.'_"

"Oh," Atemu said yet again, and he felt very stupid for having to say this one word over and over again. Unfortunately, as he didn't remember anything about himself and barely knew about what was going on now, there was little else he could say.

"If only _we_ could get up on land too…" Seto moaned in exasperation. "Then it might be easier to find that Yugi…he could be _anywhere_!"

* * *

By a stroke of luck, however, the innocent prince was not that far away from the mermen and their friend-turned-human. 

Yugi sat on a blanket on the beach fumbling through the puzzle pieces in their golden box while Rebecca and Chris, the granddaughters of Yugi's grandfather's advisors Professor Hawkins and General Iron-Heart respectively, ran around on the beach laughing and playing with Chris's big wolf-like dog, Sky.

Right now the puzzle was one-third-completed, and it looked like the top half of a golden Rubik's cube with a hole in the top similar to that on a charm on a bracelet. Yugi had bought a silver chain in town to put through the hole so that, when he had completed it, he could wear it around his neck.

The tricolor-haired prince was so focused on his puzzle that he didn't realize it when Rebecca put a tiny blue crab in his hair.

Yugi yelped when the crab pinched his hair with one of its small claws, jumping up and whirling around until he saw the crab fall off his head back onto the sand. Chris and Rebecca burst into giggles.

"Very funny, you two," Yugi muttered, blushing but still sounding good-natured.

Rebecca, a child prodigy with two blond pigtails and mischievous green eyes, stopped laughing and grinned.

"Come _on_, Yugi," she implored. "Stop putting together that silly necklace and play with us! The water's _great_!"

Chris, a girl slightly younger than Rebecca with her long brown hair in two low braids, nodded in agreement.

Yugi crossed his arms and gave them a wry smile. "It's _not_ a silly necklace, Rebecca; it's a _puzzle_, and my grandfather had to pay a lot of money to get it for me…besides…it's _more_ valuable than money could _comprehend_."

Rebecca snorted. "Are you still going on about that thing's promise of a _wish_? _C'mon_ Yugi, only little _kids_ would believe _that_, and I've _long_ since outgrown magic fantasies."

"Maybe you _shouldn't_ have," Yugi replied, looking out at the sea with a distant look on his face. "For all _you_ know, those _fantasies_ might not be fantasies at all."

'_Like that man who rescued me,'_ he thought to himself, feeling an odd pang of both sadness and hope. _'I know Tristan and the others say I must've imagined you…but I know…I know you're out there somewhere…and with my puzzle's wish, I'll find you. I'll find you, and thank you…for saving me…'_

His eyes narrowed slightly as he remembered the man's sharp, passionate eyes and his words to him…

_**"Don't worry, my little aibou…you're safe now…"**_

'_But what did you mean when you called me that?' _wondered Yugi. '_What is "aibou"?'_

"_Hello_! Earth to Yugi!"

Yugi blinked to see Rebecca on her tiptoes, waving a hand in front of his face.

"Sorry, Rebecca," he apologized. "I just sort of drifted off…"

"Again," Rebecca sighed in an annoyed voice, rolling her eyes.

"_Sky_! Sky, _drop_ it! _No_…_drop it_!"

Yugi turned around to see Chris attempting to pull his unfinished puzzle out of the mouth of Sky, who growled as if they were playing tug-of-war with a chew toy.

"_Sky_!" he admonished, going over. "_Sky_… put that _down_!"

He tried to help Chris get Sky off of his puzzle, but before he could, Sky had yanked the puzzle out of Chris's reach and ran away down the beach with his prize, likely to bury it.

"SKY!" Yugi yelled, chasing after him frantically. "SKY, _NO_! BRING THAT BACK HERE! _SKY_!"

'_I can't lose my puzzle!'_ he thought desperately. _'It's my only chance to find the man who rescued me!'_

* * *

"_Sky_! Stupid dog, come _back_ here!" 

Joey's back stiffened like a startled cat's as he heard a very familiar voice moving steadily toward them.

"Someone's coming!" Ryou immediately panicked and he started to dive back into the water, but Seto grabbed his arm to stop him as he too recognized the voice.

Both Joey and Seto turned to look at each other, eyes wide.

"_Yugi_," they said in unison.

And sure enough, a wolf-like dog ran toward them, holding something gold in his mouth, with the tricolor-haired prince running after it.

The dog noticed the group of merpeople and ran over to them, dropping the thing in his mouth so he could bark at them. Ryou, Seto, Joey and Bakura all retreated back to the water despite Atemu's shouts at them to come back, and the dog stopped in front of the merman-turned-human, still barking loudly.

Atemu stared at the furry creature for a moment, before moving past it to grab the thing it had dropped: a gold object on a chain similar to a side of a cube that looked like it had once been many pieces…

"_A puzzle_," Atemu realized, although he was not entirely sure how he knew that.

"_SKY_!"

Atemu looked up to see the source of the voice that had been calling the dog and his heart stopped.

The slightly shorter young man had spiky tricolor hair that shot up from his head as if he had been electrocuted, pale creamy skin and wide innocent violet eyes that were currently narrowed in determination and slight aggravation toward the dog.

Atemu couldn't stop himself from staring.

'_He's…beautiful…is that…"Yugi"?'_

"Sky, you stupid dog!" Yugi snapped at the wolf-like dog. "You could've…"

He stopped short at the sight of the man with wet blond-streaked tricolor hair and suntanned caramel skin on the edge of the beach holding his incomplete puzzle in his hand. The thing about him that made Yugi blush, however, was that he wasn't wearing any clothes…and he was _hot_.

"Um…hi," Yugi greeted, trying not to look lower than Atemu's face. "Um…my name's Yugi…I see you got my puzzle."

Atemu looked down at the gold puzzle in his hand. "Oh…this is _yours_?"

He handed the puzzle to Yugi, making him smile in gratitude.

'_What a wonderful smile…'_ Atemu thought dreamily.

His dreamy thoughts of his love were quickly interrupted, however, when Sky jumped on him and began licking his face madly.

"_AH_!"

Atemu tried to push the playful creature off, laughing in a deep baritone pitch that Yugi found very pleasing to the ear.

Yugi pulled Sky off of Atemu, giggling in an innocent, child-like way that Atemu also found very pleasant to listen to.

"Sorry about that…Sky here wouldn't hurt a fly, but sometimes he's…a bit _too_ friendly."

"I see," Atemu chuckled, and Yugi felt his heart leap at seeing he wasn't angry.

"Um…" the smaller of the two said awkwardly, "are you here swimming or something?"

Atemu looked down. "…No."

Yugi blinked. "Oh…are you here fishing?"

Atemu shook his head. Yugi frowned.

"Then what are you doing here?"

"I…" Atemu stammered, looking away and feeling ashamed, "I don't know."

"You don't _know_?" repeated Yugi, crouching down beside him and looking concerned.

"I…don't remember," Atemu attempted to explain, gripping his head.

Yugi's eyes filled with pity. "You must've gotten amnesia or something…do you remember _anything_?"

Atemu concentrated hard, but all he could remember was appearing on shore with _"Joey,"_ _"Ryou,"__"Bakura,"_ and _"Seto,"_ and the strange merman called _"Dartz."_

"…No."

Atemu felt an awful feeling of emptiness inside.

'_I don't even know who I am…who am I? Where do I come from? Even those mermen didn't tell me…'_

Yugi felt awful seeing how upset Atemu was and decided to try and make him feel better.

"Well…since you don't remember your name…maybe I can help you think of a _new_ one…at least until you remember your _old_ one again. Are you _sure_ you don't remember anything about your name or your family?"

"Nothing," Atemu responded hollowly. "It's like my mind has gone dark."

Yugi's forehead scrunched up in thought before he thought of something and he smiled.

"Alright then," he said, "I'll call you Yami. It means _'darkness'_…I think it suits you."

The merprince-turned-human pondered this for a moment, before his mouth turned up in a smile.

"I like it. Very well, little Yugi…I shall now be Yami."

Yugi's smile widened, glad he made _"Yami"_ feel a bit better after losing his memory.

"Why don't you come with me back to my palace?" he offered. "We can get you all cleaned up, and then maybe we can search for your family…I'm sure they're around here somewhere."

Yami looked up at Yugi in surprise. "You'd…really _do_ that? For _me_?"

"Of course," Yugi chirped cheerfully. "I'd be happy to."

Yami couldn't help but smile.

'_Now I know why I fell in love with you, Yugi…you're so kind…you're like a beacon of light in a world blanketed by darkness…'_

"Thank you."

Yami locked eyes with Yugi, and for the first time, Yugi got a very good glimpse of his sharp-lidded crimson eyes.

'_They're so full of…passion…and mysteriousness…'_

His eyes widened as he remembered the wonderful, passionate eyes of the man who had rescued him.

'…_Could it be…?'_

Yugi shook his head slightly to brush the thought from his mind.

'_Well, if he is…'_ he thought to himself as he smiled at his new friend, _'and if I help him remember his past…he'll be sure to tell me.'_

Then, out of nowhere, Yami's strength deflated like a balloon and he nearly collapsed; fortunately Yugi was there to catch him.

"Are you alright?" he asked worriedly.

"So…_tired_…" Yami murmured fragmentally. "Don't…know…_why_…"

I don't expect any of you to know how much stress someone's body can go through when transforming into something else, but Yami sure learned it now even though he didn't remember at the time that he had in fact been transformed into a human.

"Don't worry," Yugi assured him, pulling him onto his back so he could pull him along the beach back to Rebecca and Chris and toward the palace. "I've got you…"

"_Yugi_…" Yami whispered.

His mind was slowly going black; his nose vaguely recognized a pleasant vanilla cologne that must've belonged to Yugi.

"Don't worry, Yami…you're safe now…I'll get you help…"

Those were the last words Yami heard Yugi say before his mind died and he fell unconscious in his love's arms.


	8. Chapter 7: New Friends and Old

_**Chapter 7: New Friends and Old**_

When Chris and Rebecca saw their friend Yugi pulling the unconscious Yami back up the shore towards them, Chris immediately ran to get help and returned with Tristan, who carried Yami the rest of the way to the castle. Although his friend carried him, however, Yugi never let go of Yami's hand until Yami was laid down on his bed to rest, at which time Yugi sat nearby to wait for his awakening.

Around late afternoon, Tea opened the door to Yugi's room. Her friend was at his desk near his bed where Yami slept, editing some of his grandfather's speech drafts while looking up every-so-often to check to see if Yami had woken up.

"Yugi?" said Tea. "It's almost time for dinner…maybe you should go downstairs and eat; I can take a turn watching our guest."

Yugi shook his head. "I'm the only one he knows…he might get scared finding himself in a weird place, but if _I'm_ there, he'll be able to relax."

Tea nodded in understanding and for the first time sneaked a look at the stranger.

_'Wow…he's very handsome…'_

She forced the blush off her face and turned back to her friend with a smile. "I'll bring something up for you; can't go to bed without eating."

Yugi smiled back gratefully. "Thanks, Tea."

And with that, Tea left.

Yugi got up from his chair at his desk and sat down on the floor by Yami's bed.

'_I hope you're alright, Yami…'_

* * *

_ **Out of nowhere, Yami's strength deflated like a balloon and he nearly collapsed; fortunately Yugi was there to catch him.**_

"_**Are you alright?" he asked worriedly.**_

_**"So…tired…" Yami murmured fragmentally. "Don't…know…why…"**_

"_**Don't worry," Yugi assured him, pulling him onto his back so he could pull him along the beach back to Rebecca and Chris and toward the palace. "I've got you…"**_

"_**Yugi…" Yami whispered.**_

* * *

'_I guess whatever made you get amnesia must've taken a toll on you,'_ Yugi thought concernedly. _'But you looked so weak there on the beach…you seem like someone who never looks that weak…' _ Almost inadvertently, Yugi brought a hand up and smoothed a hair out of Yami's face. '_I hope you wake up soon, Yami…I hate seeing you look so helpless…'_

As if provoked by Yugi's thoughts, a moan escaped Yami's mouth and his red eyes slowly blinked open.

"Yugi?"

"You're _alright_!" Yugi breathed, looking very relieved. "I was really getting _worried_…you've been asleep almost all day."

"All _day_…?" Yami repeated absently, sitting up and holding his head.

'_Dartz and Seto said something about me only having three days to make Yugi fall in love with me…though they didn't say why…'_

The thought dropped from his mind, however; Yami enjoyed seeing Yugi happy too much to care about some sort of deadline.

Then something occurred to him.

"Do you mean that you've stayed with me throughout the entire _day_?" 

Yugi blushed, looking down awkwardly.

"Well…_yeah_…I couldn't just leave you with someone you didn't _know_…"

Yami felt a warm feeling in his chest. _'Does Yugi feel for me like I do for him?'_

"Thank you, Yugi," he answered. "I don't know if I shall ever be able to repay your kindness to me…but I do hope I can, one day."

"You don't have to _repay_ me," Yugi dissented, going even redder. "You needed _help_…it would've been _inhumane_ to leave you there. _Anyone_ would have done it."

"Not just _anyone_ would've brought me into their home and stayed with me until I woke up," Yami pointed out. "_That_ shows pureness of _heart_, Yugi."

Before Yugi could respond, the door opened to reveal Tea holding a tray of food. At the sight of Yami awake and sitting up, she blinked in surprise, her cheeks slightly pink.

'_Wow…he's even more handsome when he's awake…boy, am I glad Yugi decided to rescue a naked man!'_

She quickly forced a smile onto her face. "He's awake…good. Um…here's your food, Yugi. Do you want me to bring some up for Yami too?"

"No," Yami spoke before Yugi could. "I'll just share Yugi's."

"Are you sure?" asked Tea. "I could get you some stuffed crab from downstairs."

For some odd reason, the notion of _"stuffed crab" _made Yami feel a little queasy, so he shook his head politely. "No, thank you."

"Oh," Tea said, sounding a little disappointed. "Okay. Uh…Yugi, there's a letter on the tray from the neighboring kingdom…there's a section in there King Solomon wants you to read."

Yugi sighed as if annoyed, but took the tray from Tea nonetheless. "Thanks, Tea."

Tea nodded, shot a quick smile at Yami and left the room.

"I hope you don't mind that I don't have any _crab_," Yugi apologized, sounding slightly embarrassed as he scanned the letter quickly before throwing it in the trash. "I'm a vegetarian…I just can't make myself eat anything that could've been _alive_."

"It's quite alright," Yami assured him, taking a roll, nibbling a little off of it and deciding he liked the taste. "Eating something called _'stuffed crab'_ doesn't sound very appealing to me."

Yugi seemed surprised as he started sprinkling shredded cheese on a salad. "Really?"

"Yeah," Yami replied with a shrug. "I don't know, perhaps I was a _'vegetarian' _in my previous life as well."

Yugi grinned as he skewered a bunch of lettuce with a fork. "Wow…I've _never_ found _anyone_ who feels like I do about food before. My friends say it's silly that I don't eat fish since it's one of our kingdom's most stable _crops_, but…I don't know, it just doesn't seem _right_ to me."

Yami nodded in understanding. "I personally don't know how people can eat food that is _staring_ at them the entire time."

The two tricolor-haired young men talked back and forth, eating and laughing, for the rest of the evening. Occasionally Yugi had to correct Yami on how to eat a food, for it was apparent that eating soup with a fork is more than a tad difficult. Finally they finished all the food and Yugi decided to hit the sack (which he had to explain to Yami meant_ "going to bed"_ instead of _"hitting a sack"_). Yami argued that he wouldn't sleep on the bed while Yugi slept on the floor, and Yugi protested that Yami deserved the bed, and, out of pure dislike of fighting with each other, they declared in unison, "_Both_."

So Yugi slept on the left side of the bed and Yami slept on the right near the open window that opened onto a balcony that looked out to sea. The cool ocean breeze seemed to sooth Yami like a mother singing her child a lullaby, and he found it very easy, with the breeze in his ear and Yugi beside him, to glide into the world of dreams.

* * *

"Hey. _Hey_!" 

Yami's eyes shot open at the feeling of water splashing his face.

"_Ah_!" 

He rubbed the water out of his eyes and looked up to see Joey holding onto the edge of the balcony and looking over it at him.

"What the _hell_…what are _you_ doing here?" Yami asked, scrambling out of the bed and over to the balcony.

"Checking up on you," Joey responded.

He eyed Yugi still in bed and suddenly grinned broadly.

"You've already _slept_ with him? _Man_, I thought you would fall in love with him _quickly_, but I _never_ thought you'd get him to kiss you in one _day_!"

"_Huh_?" said Yami, going very red. "I didn't _sleep_ with him! At least not like _that_…w-we were arguing about where the other would sleep last night and we decided to share the _bed_, that's all!"

Joey's smile faded.

"So you _didn't_ kiss him?"

"No," Yami replied.

Joey's attitude quite visibly drooped. "Oh."

Yami felt guilty at seeing him so upset, but was too interested in getting some answers to dwell on his guilt.

"Why is it so important that Yugi kiss me?"

Joey sighed. "Lets just say you don't have much _time_ to spend with Yugi."

Yami looked ready to question this, but a moan echoed from behind him to signal Yugi's awakening.

Joey quickly let go of the balcony and fell back into the water below where, Yami now noticed, Ryou, Bakura and Seto were also looking up at him.

"Yami?" Yugi asked, rubbing his eye tiredly.

Yami went back over to the bed and smiled at him. "Good morning, little one. Did you sleep well?"

Yugi nodded with a sleepy smile. "What were you doing on the balcony?"

"Just…looking out at the sea," Yami lied.

Yugi nodded again, this time in understanding. "I like doing that sometimes; it helps me relax if I have a lot on my mind…"

He stretched, before getting up and heading out of the room.

"I'll go get dressed in another room so I can leave you alone…feel free to wear any of the clothes in my closet; they're all a little big for me, so I think they'll fit you well enough. Then maybe we can get some breakfast."

"Alright," answered Yami as Yugi left the room with a smile.

Yami quietly closed the door and headed over to open Yugi's closet.

The flood of choices for outfits made Yami feel dizzy. There were fancy clothes and plain clothes, long clothes and short clothes, proper clothes and revealing clothes, of every color, texture and design. If Yugi's closet were a zoo, it would probably stretch over two continents.

Yami hurriedly ran over to the balcony to look down at Ryou, Seto, Bakura and Joey still hanging around outside.

"_Hey_!" he called down to them, looking and feeling quite pathetic. "Can you guys help me decide what the hell to _wear_?"

* * *

It was times like this that Ryou seemed like a gift from the gods to his friends. If any of the other mermen had attempted to help Yami with dressing, they could've made him look like a clown. 

Yami looked at himself in the long mirror, smiling slightly at the outfit that Ryou had suggested for him. His choice for shirt was sleeveless black with a gold-buckled collar, and two belts, one chain and one leather, held up his shiny black pants so that they could show off his dark blue ankle boots.

"Yugi won't be able to resist," Ryou assured him, grinning slightly.

"Thanks, Ryou," Yami answered, turning away from the mirror and smiling too. "I really owe you one."

"You _all_ owe us, buddy, for us helping you at _all_," Bakura stated in a snappish type of amusement. "We shouldn't _have_ to pay for _your _stupidity…_OW_!"

Ryou had whacked Bakura in the face with his tail.

"Yami?" Tea's voice rang out from behind the door. "Are you suitable?"

"J-just a minute!" Yami yelled back, before turning to Ryou and his mermen friends.

"Remember," Seto prompted. "You only have _two_ _days_ left…make them _count_."

"We'll try to keep track of your movements," Joey told him, "so if you need our help, try heading toward water. We'll probably be there."

Yami nodded and Ryou let go of the balcony to fall back into the water below.

"Come in!" the tricolor-haired man called in Tea's direction.

Tea opened the door and fought back yet another blush at his attire.

"Wow…um…you look _great_!"

"Thanks," Yami replied, not paying any mind to the blush on the young woman's cheeks.

Tea quickly forced herself to regain her composure and looked at Yami seriously.

"Yami…I wonder if you could ask a favor of you."

Yami looked at her in surprise. "What might that be?"

Tea looked slightly awkward. "Well…I don't know if Yugi _told_ you, but there are people in the royal court…that are less than _trustworthy_."

Yami raised an eyebrow. "No, he did not."

"Well, these people are very _powerful_. They're heads of the estates around the kingdom. Some of them, like Rebecca and Chris's grandfathers, are very wise and just…but _others_…are just selfish and power-seeking."

"And what does that have to do with _me_?" inquired Yami.

Tea bit her lip. "King Solomon, Yugi's grandfather, is worried that they might go to extreme means to gain _power_…_maybe_ even try to dispose of Yugi in an attempt to seize the throne for themselves."

"_WHAT_?" shouted Yami, his eyes wide.

"Yugi says that he's not worried about those people, because he trusts the justice system to take care of them," Tea continued, "but…you and I _both_ know how _innocent_ he is…he's one of my best friends…I don't want anything to _happen_ to him."

Yami nodded. "What would you have me do?"

"Yugi told me that he wants to take you around the city today to help jog your memory," Tea explained. "I want you…to be Yugi's double today in town. I can style your hair so it looks like Yugi's…you'll be nearly _identical_…so if something _happens_…you might protect Yugi. Even if you got captured, I know you're _stronger_ than Yugi…you'd be able to _escape_. Yugi's _so_ innocent…he'd never see how far some people can go."

Yami looked away. _'Tea's right. Yugi is so innocent…something I love about him…but what if his innocence endangered his life? I can't lose him…'_

"I'll do it."

* * *

Yugi came downstairs into the dining hall wearing a white shirt, a silver-buckled choker and matching blue pants and jacket set, to find food set at two places on the long table across from each other. 

'_Yami's not here yet…'_ Yugi thought, looking up at the stairs. _'I hope he didn't have any problems with clothes…'_

He suddenly had a mental image of Yami in one of the more "eccentric" outfits his grandfather had requested for him and shuttered. Shoving it from his mind he sat at one of places at the table and picked up his fork to get ready to eat, only to stop at the sound of footsteps coming down the stairs into the dining hall.

Yami, his hair now styled with gel so that it stuck up off of his head like Yugi's hair, ran down the stairs to meet him.

Fortunately Yugi realized he was drooling fast enough to wipe his mouth before Yami noticed.

"You…you look _awesome_," he complimented.

Yami smiled as he sat across from Yugi. _'He likes it! Thank the Gods for Ryou…'_

"As do you, little one."

Yugi blushed slightly. "Um…who did your hair?"

"Tea," Yami replied, and he became serious at the reminder of his role as Yugi's double. "Yugi, why didn't you tell me about the people at your grandfather's court?"

Yugi sighed. "My grandpa and servants worry about me…they seem to think I'm a child who can't take care of myself. _That's_ why your hair is styled like that, isn't it? Because Tea was worried about me."

Yami nodded. "She asked me to be your double today while we're in town."

Yugi's mouth dropped open. "She had _no__right_ to ask you to do that! You're our _guest_! I brought you here to _help_ you, _not_ to make you be my _bodyguard_!"

"Don't look at her too _harshly_, little one," Yami stated gently, putting his hand on Yugi's. "She is your _friend_, and as such, she is allowed to worry about you…besides, if she _hadn't_ suggested it to me after informing me about your court, I would've suggested it _myself_."

"Not _you_ too!" Yugi moaned. "Look, I _know_ I look weak, but I'm not-"

"I never said you were _weak_, Yugi, and I _never_ would say that," Yami interrupted firmly. "I think you are the strongest of everyone here, for _you_ have the strength in your heart to care about others and see the goodness in _everyone_. If _anything_, it is the _weak_ that prey on the strong in an attempt to appear strong _themselves_…and _that_ is what you must watch out for, little one."

Yugi considered Yami for a moment. "But if you don't think I'm _weak_, why did you agree to be my double?"

"Because I would rather let the weak feed on _me_ than someone as strong-hearted as _you_," Yami answered. "You saved my _life_, Yugi, and gave me hope and kindness to lighten up the blackness of my mind…I am indebted to you forever and always for that, and I will _never_ let weak people like those in your grandfather's court get anywhere _near_ you."


	9. Chapter 8: Kiss the Prince

_**Chapter 8: Kiss the Prince**_

Yugi and Yami left the palace in a open horse-drawn carriage led by Yugi's friend Tristan, and as they galloped gently down the hill that separated the beach and the palace from the town in the valley below, Yami's heart swelled as his eyes went over the bustling action.

The colors were astounding; if the town were a painting, the artist must've exhausted his supply of paint completing his work. A cornucopia of smells hit Yami's nose: perfumes, bread baking and the salty air from the sea a hill away. Voices of shopkeepers calling out deals for their wares and parents scolding their children to stay close mingled together, creating an almost song of human voices in disordered harmony.

Yugi turned to see how Yami liked the city. Then he did a double take.

'_Where's Yami?'_

He looked outside the carriage to see Yami had jumped out and was running along the cobble-stoned street.

"Stop the carriage!" Yugi called to Tristan.

The carriage shrieked to a halt and Yugi leapt out, running to catch up with Yami, who had stopped in front of a window display for a store with a large, colorful name of **_"Masters and Monsters Game-Shop."_** When Yugi got close enough to see what Yami was staring at in the window, he grinned.

"They're called Duel Monster cards," he told his new friend.

"Duel Monster?" Yami repeated, looking away from the display at Yugi in interest.

"You fight your opponent with monsters and magic and trap cards until you wipe out your opponent's life-points and win the duel," Yugi explained.

"Do you play it?" Yami inquired.

Yugi nodded, rubbing the back of his head awkwardly. "People around here call me the _'King of Games'_…though I think the title and everything is rather _silly_."

Yami looked back at the display wistfully. "I wish I knew how to play…it sounds _wonderful_."

"I'll teach you," Yugi proposed immediately, seizing hold of Yami's arm and pulling him into the shop. "C'mon…I'll help you build a deck!"

So the two tricolor-haired males plowed through the store's Duel Monster cards, acting as excited as two children let loose in a toy store. For some reason, the idea of learning a new game he could play with Yugi seemed like heaven on earth to Yami, and he wasn't quite sure if it was learning the game or being with Yugi that made him happier.

When they finally exhausted the store's supply of cards and finished organizing Yami's deck, Yami attached the new leather carrying case holding his deck to his belt and he and Yugi headed back out into the busy street.

"Now that you have your deck and know the rules, why don't we have a duel?" suggested Yugi. "I think it'd be the easiest way to teach you how to play."

Yami nodded in agreement. "Where to, little one?"

Yugi looked around before his violet eyes caught sight of a fancy-looking restaurant with whimsical letters spelling out _**"The Dark Magician"** _on its overhead sign.

"_There_! It probably won't have much business around this time of day, so no one will mind us dueling there."

The Dark Magician was indeed a very cozy if not quite upscale restaurant. Upon hearing they were serving the crown prince (which Yami pretended he was as he was playing as Yugi's double), the staff quickly escorted the two to the best booth in the place so they could duel in peace.

"Alright, Yami," Yugi said, grinning as he drew the last card for his hand, "you ready?"

"Born ready, little one," Yami answered with a friendly smirk.

"_DUEL_!" the two chanted in unison.

**Yami: 2000**

**Yugi: 2000**

Yugi drew his first card. "I play Graceful Charity, which lets me draw three cards if I discard two…then I place Beaver Warrior **(1200/1500)** on the field in attack mode and one card facedown. I end my turn."

"Very well," Yami granted, drawing a card and smiling. "I play Queen's Knight **(1500/1600)** in attack mode, and I attack your Beaver Warrior."

Yugi smirked. "Big mistake. I reveal my facedown card, Horn of the Unicorn, which increases my Beaver Warrior's attack points by 700, making my Beaver stronger than your Knight. I destroy your Queen's Knight."

**Yami: 1600**

**Yugi: 2000**

"You walked into that one, Yami," Yugi warned gently. "You need to be careful about magic and trap cards."

Yami gave a mischievous smile. "Thank you for the advice, little one…I only advise _you_ not to _underestimate _me…"

He stroked Yugi's thigh underneath the table, and Yugi blushed quite red indeed.

"Um…yeah…_sure_," stammered Yugi, drawing so that he wouldn't have to reply to that comment. "I sacrifice Beaver Warrior in order to summon Gaia the Fierce Knight **(2300/2100)**. Then I play the card Reborn the Monster to bring back the Curse of Dragon **(2000/1500)** I discarded last turn to the Graveyard, so I can fuse them together with Polymerization to create Gaia the Dragon Champion **(2600/2100)**. Fortunately for you, I can't attack on the same turn my Dragon Champion was created, so I end my turn."

"Good move," Yami complimented, removing his hand from Yugi's thigh (making Yugi relax slightly but also miss the warmness of his touch) and drawing a card. "I summon King's Knight **(1600/1400)** in attack mode, and then I activate a facedown card, Swords of Revealing Light, preventing you from attacking for three turns."

Yugi frowned slightly and drew with a shrug. "I place Kuriboh **(300/200)** in defense mode and end my turn."

Yami drew. "I activate the magic card Living Arrow, which lets me use one of your magic cards, and I use Reborn the Monster so I can summon my Queen's Knight back from the Graveyard. With her on the field, by King's Knight's special ability, I may also summon Jack's Knight **(1900/1000)** to the field in attack mode. That ends my turn."

"I sacrifice Kuriboh to summon the Dark Magician Girl **(2000/1700)**," Yugi answered as he drew a card, "and she gains 300 extra attack points for the Dark Magician I discarded to the Graveyard by Graceful Charity. I end my turn."

Drawing, Yami passed his turn.

Yugi was very confused as to Yami's strategy but nevertheless drew, summoned Celtic Guardian **(1400/1200)** in attack mode, played a card facedown, and ended his turn.

"Your Swords of Revealing Light have now worn off," he commented. "Next turn, I can attack you again. I hope you're ready."

"And I hope _you_ are," Yami responded.

As the merman-turned-human drew his next card, he smirked. "Alright, little one…you've played a _wonderful_ duel…but now it _ends_. I play the magic card Black Luster Ritual."

"_What_?" said Yugi in surprise.

Yami smiled. "Ah good, I was able to _surprise_ you…I didn't think it fair to let you see my entire deck before we dueled, little one, so I picked out a few myself when you were looking for others for me. Sorry about the _deception_, but I wanted to have some _fun_."

Yugi smiled too. "That's alright…I only hope you know how to _use_ it!"

"Not to worry, little one," Yami chuckled. "I learned this game from the _best_…I should at least win _one_ duel I have against him, even if he is going a bit _easy_ on me."

Yugi's smile widened. "Then make your move, my friend."

"I shall," Yami replied. "I sacrifice both King's and Queen's Knight to ritual summon Black Luster Soldier **(3000/2500)**. Then I activate the magic card Diffusion Wave Motion; if I have a level 7 or higher spellcaster, I can attack all of the monsters on your side of the field…I must pay 1000 lifepoints to do so, but it's well worth it."

**Yami: 600**

**Yugi: 2000**

Yugi's eyes widened. "Wow, you really _did_ surprise me, didn't you?"

He then grinned. "I've never had such a great duel before!"

Yami smiled fondly in return. "I'm glad I could give you a _challenge_, little one. I attack your Celtic Guardian, your Dark Magician Girl and your Dragon Champion and wipe out your lifepoints…I win."

"No," Yugi dissented simply.

Yami blinked. "What?"

"You _don't_ win," Yugi elaborated, flipping his facedown card face-up. "I activate the magic card Mirror Force, reflecting your attack back at you."

**Yami: 0**

**Yugi: 2000**

"Sorry, Yami," Yugi apologized gently. "I win."

Yami stared at the field for a moment, dumbstruck, before his face broke into a big smile.

"Very good move, little one…_very_ good move."

Yugi looked a bit regretful. "I only wish we could've had a _longer_ duel…it was a lot of _fun_…and you almost _beat_ me! Are you sure you've never played Duel Monsters before?"

Yami's forehead scrunched up in thought. "…I don't _think_ I've ever played it before…but I don't _remember_…then again, I don't remember _anything_…"

"Well, whether you have or haven't," stated Yugi, "you're one of the best duelists I've ever seen…we need to duel again sometime."

Yami placed his hand on Yugi's resting on the table. "I would like that very much, little one."

Yugi blushed slightly, looking into Yami's eyes shyly. He delved into the crimson depths so far that he barely recognized that Yami had started moving closer to him until he had stroked a flyaway hair out of his face and their noses touched…

"Well, well, well…look what we have _here_."

Yugi and Yami sprung apart and looked up at a group of men who had stopped in front of their table. All five of them were middle-aged and they all had faces that seemed to smirk without them smirking at all.

"The little prince seems to have a _look-alike_ today," remarked one with glasses. "Worried about being recognized in _public_, little Yugi?"

Yami was about to pretend like the man had been talking to him, but Yugi stopped him.

"What are you doing around here, Johnson?" he inquired, feigning politeness.

"We were just having a discussion about…er…the _weaker_ areas of the government," a balding man answered, a wicked glint in his eyes as he looked down at the young prince.

Yami stood up angrily and looked the man right in the eye. "Perhaps you should consider what makes some areas of government _weak_…they might be weak because they are so ambitious to gain _other_ things that they aren't focusing on what they can do to benefit _others_."

"Yami-" Yugi started concernedly.

"And who are _you_ to make such statements, you little stunt-double?" a bearded man demanded coldly.

"I have no _title_, if that's what you mean," Yami replied, his tone equally cold, "but if you work in the government, titles should be the _least_ of your worries…you should be _more_ concerned with what the people say and want."

A few of the men scoffed: some of them even laughed.

"I'd watch my words if I were _you_, boy," a man with a thick mustache admonished mockingly. "I'm _sure_ with you being the prince's mimic, you know that if you pay a man enough, he'll walk barefoot into _hell_."

With that, the group left, chuckling and muttering sinisterly. Yami watched them leave, his scarlet eyes narrowed.

"Those were the men Tea and your grandfather are worried about, aren't they?" he asked Yugi quietly.

"Yes," Yugi murmured. "They're called the Big Five when together…individually, they're Gansley, Crump, Johnson, Nezbitt and Lector."

Yami clenched his fist so hard it bled.

"Yami, don't worry about them," Yugi insisted firmly, ripping off a part of his shirt and wrapping it around Yami's bleeding hand with tenderness. "My friends are so worried about them that they'd _never_ get close to me…and besides…they just don't know any better. Bad people sometimes just _don't_."

Yami relaxed slightly at Yugi's touch, and he sighed.

"Why don't we go toward the water for a while?" Yugi offered. "It's nice and quiet there…would be nice after that…_conversation_."

Yami smiled. "That sounds great, little one."

* * *

The two rented a boat on the dock and Yugi paddled it through the water toward the weeping willow that he'd told Yami was his secret _"hiding place"_ to think and do work without disruptions. 

The sky darkened above them with the second sunset since they first met. Yugi paddled the boat slowly underneath the weeping willow's hanging branches, and for the slight moment that the side of the boat with Yugi was behind the willow's branches and Yami's side was in front of them, Joey popped out of the water near Yami.

"Have you kissed him yet?" he asked immediately.

"No," Yami sighed.

"_For crying out loud, man_!" Joey snapped. "I've already _told_ you that you don't have much _time_!"

"I…I don't know what to _say_ to him," Yami confessed awkwardly.

"Just tell him how you feel," Joey advised.

"Are you sure that will be _enough_?"

"If he loves you back, it will."

"But what if he _doesn't_?"

"He will, man. He will."

Yami's side of the boat made it through the willow's branches and into the almost-cavern that Yugi loved to hide in. The light of the sunset gently crept in through gaps made by the windblown branches, dancing around the tricolor-haired duo like fairies dancing around some secretive dance floor.

"It's really quite beautiful here, little one," Yami told him, taking Yugi's hands in his. "I understand why you like it so."

Yugi was glad the darkness helped conceal his blush as he again looked into the merman-turned-human's eyes. He quickly stopped himself from falling into them, the memory of his rescuer returning to him.

'_Yami might be him…but nothing I've tried today has triggered his memory…and he doesn't remember anything on his own…and what if the Puzzle's wish doesn't help me find the man who rescued me? I'll never be able to repay him…'_

"Yugi?" Yami asked concernedly. "Are you alright?"

"Yes," Yugi responded immediately. "I'm fine."

There was a silence. Then he continued,

"Yami?"

"Hmm?"

Yugi hesitated, before stating, "I trust you more than any of my other friends…I wonder if I could confide in you."

"Of course, Yugi," Yami answered. "I would _never_ betray your trust."

Yugi smiled slightly, glad for his reassurance. "Well…I was on my friend Valon's ship on my birthday a few days ago…"

And he explained everything about the party on the ship, the storm that followed, him running to retrieve the Puzzle and the mysterious man who had rescued him.

"…And I don't know who or where he is…I just…feel awful I can't do anything to _thank_ him for rescuing me…and I am _curious_ about what he called me…_'aibou'…_it almost sounds like a word in an ancient language-"

"Partner," Yami interrupted.

"What?"

"Aibou means _'partner,'_" Yami elaborated, remembering what Ryou said to him before and his heart sinking. "It's a term for life companions…_mates_."

Yugi stared at Yami for quite some time. Then he whispered, "How did you know that?"

Yami froze.

"I…I don't know," he lied.

'_I feel bad lying to you, Yugi…but it's the safest thing I can say…'_

Yami's heart felt like it had gone cold.

'_That man who rescued you…he's a merman…and he's in love with you…'_

He looked at Yugi to see him deep in thought.

'_Are you in love with him…?'_

Yugi didn't say anything else concerning his rescuer or _"aibou"_; instead he quickly suggested that they should return to the castle before night fell. Yami sadly agreed and the two headed to shore.

* * *

"It seems even _without_ his memory, the little blackfish is one smart cookie," Dartz muttered as he popped the bubble he'd created with the image of Yugi and Yami together, his shark tail swishing in the water angrily. "At this rate, he'll be kissing him by _sunset_…and I will _not_ let the strongest soul in the ocean wrench out of my grasp…"

* * *

Yugi stood on his balcony looking out to sea, fitting pieces into his puzzle and thinking about Yami now sleeping in the room across the hall. 

'_How did he know about _'aibou'_? Does that mean he really did rescue me?'_

He shook his head slightly.

'_The only two options I have is…should I keep searching for the man who called me his _'partner'_…or should I be with Yami? I…I really care about Yami…I'd do anything to make him happy…but if the man who rescued me wanted me to be his life companion…'_

He looked down at his puzzle, which was now one piece away from completion.

'_Should I still wish to find him…or should I wish for Yami to remember his past?'_

After a few moments of thinking, he picked up the final piece of the puzzle and was about to put it in when…

**"_Aibou…"_**

A quiet yet oddly haunting voice called this single word along the beach as if making a mellow search for a puppy.

**"_Aibou…"_**

Yugi looked around the beach by his balcony to see a man with hair down on his shoulders with spiky bangs and sharp-lidded eyes walking along the shore toward his balcony.

**"_Aibou…"_**

Yugi would've called and asked who the person was, but something around the man's neck had caught his attention: a blue-green pendant with a circle-surrounded six-pointed star that seemed to glow in the dark.

It seemed odd this pendant was so striking, but it was like the pendant had frozen him in place like a statue as its light slyly sneaked into his senses, clouding his reason…

**"_Aibou…"_**


	10. Chapter 9: Unexpected Matrimony

_**Chapter 9: Unexpected Matrimony**_

Yami awoke the following morning with a fierce determination. That day, he decided, he would tell Yugi how he felt about him.

_'Today is the last day for me to tell him how much I love him…for whatever reason…and besides, I can't keep it bottled up forever…surely he'll understand…he must understand…he must've felt it too…that sense of completion…but what if he doesn't?'_

He shoved that more pessimistic thought aside roughly.

'_He has to…he does.'_

Yami pulled on a gray vest over the long-sleeved black shirt he had already pulled over his head and a pair of black leather pants, and then opened the door and peeped outside his room.

Upon seeing Yugi's door open and his room empty, Yami headed toward the staircase into the dining hall; he stopped abruptly, however, when he heard voices.

"Well, I won't _lie_ to you, Yugi, I'm…I _really_ didn't think that you'd _find_ this mystery man of yours…but _obviously_, I now see…he, in fact, _exists_."

It was a voice of a man in his last years of living, yet it wasn't weak or frail; it still sounded quite strong and seemed to retain a certain amount of youthful humor. Yami decided it must've Yugi's grandfather, King Solomon.

'_But what is he talking about? What mystery man?'_

Almost instinctively, Yugi's and his conversation from the previous night sneaked out of his memories back to him.

* * *

_"…**I just…feel awful I can't do anything to thank him for rescuing me…and I am curious about what he called me…**_**'aibou'**_**…it almost sounds like a word in an ancient language-"**_

_"**Partner," Yami interrupted.**_

_"**What?"**_

_"**Aibou means **_**'partner****,'**_**" Yami elaborated, remembering what Ryou said to him before and his heart sinking. "It's a term for life companions…**_**mates.**_**"**_

* * *

Yami's eyes widened in horror. 

'_No…it couldn't be…!'_

He peeked around the edge of the staircase to look into the hall where the gray-haired, violet-eyed King Solomon sat facing Yugi and a turquoise-haired man with one green eye and one gold.

"We wish to be married as soon as possible," Yugi stated in a flat tone very unlike his usual cheerful one. His eyes, too, seemed to be quite hollow, but they didn't seem regretful…just blank.

The empty look in Yugi's eyes didn't hit Yami as hard of it should've, though; his love's words had made him freeze in shock, his crimson eyes losing all of the light he'd had this morning and reflecting a similar amount of darkness to the darkness clouding Yugi's eyes. It looked like he lost the happiest thing in his life…and he had.

'_Married…?'_

Solomon seemed a bit surprised at Yugi's solemn tone: it could be easily deduced Yugi rarely talked to him this formally. Nevertheless, he nodded quickly and assured his grandson,

"O-of course, Yugi…I would be only too _happy_ to. After all, if you are going to be married, I should like to make it the happiest day in your-"

"We want the wedding ship by this afternoon," Yugi cut off Solomon's consideration quite bluntly and without any regret in the slightest, "ready to set sail at sunset."

"O-of course, Yugi…"

Yami stood frozen on the stairs, staring at the scene with disbelief in his eyes. Then he forced himself to turn away and walk back toward his room, very slowly.

_'He…he found the one he loved…I should be happy for him…That merman, Dartz…was the one who saved him…I should be glad for that…I should be happy Yugi is happy…but…'_

All of the possible feelings of sadness, heartbreak and anger within him mounted at once, shoving each other out of the way in an attempt to reach the front of his heart. Finally the pain reached its peak and Yami punched the wall, his strength driven by the sea of feelings rushing through him.

'_I should be happy for him…'_ he thought, looking at the floor and trying to hold back tears, _'even though…I've lost him forever…'_

* * *

Dartz smiled cruelly down at the blank-eyed Yugi, his green and gold eyes shining as he stroked the turquoise Orikalkos pendant around his neck with his thumb. 

_'Now that little Yugi belongs to me, I will win the little mer-prince's soul…and with that, I will win everything: the sea, unrestrained power…and the entire world.'_

_

* * *

_

The plank was raised, the sails were set and the white and gold-adorned wedding ship started its oddly unhappy journey away from the shore toward the reddening horizon.

Yami was standing on the dock, watching it leave. He had been invited by Tea to come, but he had refused, not wanting to ruin Yugi's happiness.

Yugi's friends seemed to be in a similar position to King Solomon, not wanting to be upset for Yugi's big day but still feeling very uneasy about the whole set-up. Rebecca and Chris, in particular, seemed very troubled by Yugi's strange behavior around Dartz; even Sky seemed to be suspicious of Dartz, as he growled whenever he was around him.

Yami, however, wasn't thinking about Yugi's friends' opinions or Yugi's fiancé; he was only thinking about his innocent love happy in another man's arms.

_'I thought…he felt the same…'_

His knees gave way and he felt to the wooden ground of the dock. Tears streamed down his face as he looked at the sun-reflecting ocean in disbelief and heartbreak.

_'I thought…'_

His shoulders shaking with silent sobs, Yami threw his head back and howled Yugi's name like a wounded dog.

"YUGI! _YUUUUUUGIIIIII_!"

He slammed his fist into the ground, making a hole in the wooden planks, as he sat and wept for the one he loved.

_'I have no meaning now…I am nothing…if he can't love me…'_

"_Atemu_!"

Yami didn't even look up at the sound of Seto's voice as he, Joey and Ryou swam up to the side of the dock where he sat; he didn't even realize his blue-tailed cousin had called him by his real name.

"Man…what _happened_?" Joey asked, looking very concerned.

"He's…gone…" Yami moaned, "…he's…_gone_…"

"_Gone_?" Ryou repeated, putting a hand on Yami's shoulder in worry. "What are you _talking_ about? We heard this morning from Bakura's friend Marik that Yugi was getting married…why are you _here_? You should be onboard the ship if you guys are getting _married_…"

Yami cried out like a maniac, shoving Ryou aside and sobbing even harder. "He didn't…choose…_me_…I thought…I _thought_ he…but he _didn't_!"

"_What_?" Seto demanded. "But then…_who_…?"

"The merman who…rescued him," Yami choked through his tears.

"That's _impossible_!" said Joey. "Yami, you don't remember this, but _you_ were-"

"I should…be _happy_ for him," Yami wasn't paying attention to anything Joey said and instead just continued to groan, "but…I feel like I'm _dying_!"

His three merman just stared at their crying friend, all feeling a terrible mixture of grief and guilt in their hearts. They just couldn't believe this was the end…after _everything_ the mer-prince had given up to be with Yugi…Yugi went with someone _else_…and their friend's soul would remain with Dartz _forever_…

"_AIBOU_!"

Ryou turned to see Bakura splashing toward the group, looking urgent.

"Where have you _been_?" the longhaired albino snapped at his aibou. "Can't you see how much Atemu-?"

"Yugi's marrying _Dartz_!" Bakura interrupted him, sounding quite out of breath.

"_What_?" Joey and Seto inquired in shocked unison.

"That guy…Yugi is marrying…it's Dartz in _disguise_!" Bakura elaborated, panting as he tried to catch his breath. "I saw him and Yugi through a porthole on their ship…"

* * *

_**Bakura grabbed hold of a porthole on the edge of the white ship, trying to get some glimpse of Yami and Yugi before their big day. When he caught sight of Yugi, however, he was shocked to see a very blank look in his violet eyes.**_

'**What's got his panties in a bunch?' _Bakura wondered. _'He's getting married, for crying out loud!'**

_"**Almost ready, little Yugi?" cooed a male voice in a very sinister way.**_

_**Bakura's eyes narrowed, both confused and angry, as Dartz came into sight and caressed Yugi's blank face. Yugi didn't make any notice to Dartz's touch or voice, as if he were a hollow shell without any opinions or feelings whatsoever.**_

_**Suddenly Yugi blinked twice, his violet eyes lighting up for the first time since Bakura had caught sight of him, and held his head as if it were in pain.**_

_"**W-**_**what**_**…?"**_

_**Dartz frowned slightly, before the turquoise pendant around his neck glowed. **_

_"**I am the one who rescued you from the shipwreck," Dartz told Yugi, his voice quite hypnotizing in nature. "I am the one who called you **_**'aibou.'**_**"**_

_**The green light flowed like a mist around Yugi's head, delving around his eyes and making them as blank as before.**_

_"**You are my rescuer," Yugi repeated in an expressionless sort of voice.**_

**_Bakura's eyes widened in relization._ 'Mind control!'**

_"**You're quite difficult to control long-term for such an innocent, little Yugi," Dartz thought out loud. "But oh well…I don't need to control you for that much longer…only until the sun sets…and the little mer-prince is mine."**_

_**Bakura had heard enough. He let go of the side of the ship and fell back into the ocean, before high tailing back toward land to find Ryou, Seto and Joey.**_

* * *

"Don't you _see_?" Bakura whispered. "Dartz is using Atemu's memory to make everyone think _he _was the one who saved Yugi…he's even using it to brainwash Yugi into believing _he _was the one who named him as his aibou!"

Yami stopped crying for the first time in minutes.

"Do you mean," he murmured in a very icy tone, "that he _tricked _my Yugi?"

"Um…_yeah_?" Bakura answered, looking a bit awkward at the coldness in Yami's voice.

Yami stood up, his scarlet eyes blazing fiercely.

"NO ONE TRICKS _MY _YUGI AND GETS AWAY WITH IT!"

"Way to totally miss the fact that if Dartz _does _get away with it, your soul will be his _forever_," Seto muttered with a scowl.

Yami wasn't paying attention; without a second thought, he leapt into the water.

He struggled to float for a few seconds, and then tried to swim, only to barely get it. Of course, since he'd lost his memory, he'd also forgotten how to swim well, even if he had once been the fastest-swimming merman in the ocean.

"_Atemu_!" Ryou cried, rushing to his aid.

"We don't have much time," Seto said seriously, eyeing the sunset with foreboding. "Ryou…you and Bakura get to the ship and do anything you can to stall that wedding. Dogfish…you help Atemu swim for the ship…I think only _he'll_ be able to break the spell on Yugi now."

"But Seto…you're the fastest one out of you and me," Joey argued, "_you_ should go!"

Seto shook his head. "I'm going to gather King Aknamkanon and the High Court in case something goes wrong. It will take quite a while to get them all together and tell them everything."

"_But_-" Joey started.

Seto put his hands on Joey's shoulders. "I'm _counting _on you, Joey…look after my cousin."

It was the first time the High Priest had called the blond by his name, and it was immediately obvious to Joey. He stared at Seto for a moment, before nodding slowly.

"Be careful," Joey cautioned him.

Seto smiled slightly. "You too."

With that, Seto let go of Joey's shoulders and delved back into the water. Joey watched the spot where he disappeared for a moment, as if deep in thought.

"You're in love with him," Yami commented rather plainly in Joey's direction.

Joey went red and growled a few unintelligible things under his breath.

"Okay, Bakura," Ryou stated in a business-like tone, turning to his aibou once more. "I _really _hate to do this, but…call your band."

Bakura looked disbelieving. "But Aibou…you always _hate _it when they're around…you said I can never invite them _anywhere_-"

"_Forget what I said_!" Ryou snapped. "_Listen to what I'm saying now_!"

Bakura blinked in surprise, before his mouth went up in a huge smirk.

"You've got it, chibi Aibou!"

He put his hands up to his mouth and started making odd birdcall-like noises.

A few seconds later, a flock of seagulls flew over toward them and landed on the edge of the dock. The one in front had an unusual light yellow coloring and lavender eyes, and wore a gold collar around his neck to signify his status as leader.

"Hey, Bakura!" he greeted. "Your nit-picky aibou _actually _let us hang out with you for a little while?"

Ryou scowled at the seagull leader's reference to him; Bakura, however, ignored it and got straight to the business at hand.

"Unfortunately Marik, this meeting is under less than _fun _circumstances…there's a wedding on that ship over there that we need to stop."

"_Ooh_, crashing a _wedding_?" Marik asked eagerly. "We haven't done that in _years_! Sounds fun."

He looked back toward the rest of his flock and crowed, "Alright…let's _fly_!"

And the flock took off toward the ship, cawing and laughing raucously.

"I _hate _them," Ryou growled under his breath.

Bakura smiled wryly at him, wrapping his arm around him and nuzzling his face.

"C'mon, chibi Aibou…we better get on over there and help them out."

Ryou sighed. "True, true…"

He looked at Joey and Yami. "Hurry after us, alright?"

Yami nodded. "We'll be right behind you."

Ryou nodded, and the two dove into the water and started swimming for the ship after Marik and the flock of seagulls.

Joey grabbed Yami's arms and wrapped them around his neck.

"Hold on," he told his now-human friend.

And the blond pulled Yami toward the ship as fast as his fins could take him.


	11. Chapter 10: The Magic of Love

_**Chapter 10: The Magic of Love**_

Chris watched Yugi as he and his turquoise-haired fiancé, Dartz, walked down the white-decorated aisle toward where the priest sat ready to state the words that would bind them together forever.

Dartz was dressed in collared blue and violet robes and a sharp-pointed silver crown, and around his neck still sat his Orikalkos pendant. The innocent tricolor-haired prince walking mindlessly beside him wore a gold crown with an Egyptian-style eye resting on his forehead and royal silver armor that made him radiate in the sun slowly moving toward the western horizon. Yet despite his beautiful appearance and the happiness of the event he was taking part in, Yugi didn't make any reference to his surroundings, as if he were walking down the aisle in his sleep, except with his vague violet eyes open.

Sky growled low beside her, eyeing Dartz in a dog's version of suspicion and struggling slightly against the leash Chris had him on. His master couldn't help but agree with her canine companion; something about Dartz just didn't seem right to her.

"Rebecca," she murmured, trying not to move her lips too much so her grandfather, Iron-Heart, wouldn't notice her talking during the ceremony and scold her.

"Yeah?" Rebecca hissed back through her barely open lips.

"Something's wrong...I thought Yugi loved _Yami_, and _now_ he wants to marry _this_ guy…"

Rebecca didn't answer immediately; when she finally did, she whispered, "I thought so too...but it's _Yugi's_ choice, not ours. We can't make decisions _for_ him-"

"But it's like Yugi's not even making the decision _himself_!" Chris interrupted under her breath. "Look at him...he looks almost _dead_! He's _never_ this emotionless, _ever_!"

Rebecca bit her lip. "I know he's acting _weird_...but he _did_ make the decision himself, Chris...he said he wanted to marry this guy."

"Words don't _always_ say what someone is truly feeling," Chris dissented.

Now Rebecca was a child prodigy; she knew very well that something was wrong with Yugi...but Chris's words made no sense to her. Yugi chose to marry Dartz…but it seemed obvious that he really cared about Yami…the only way for both to be true would be for Yugi to be under a spell to make him act unlike himself, and this, Rebecca reasoned, was impossible. But as she watched her friend stop at the end of the aisle with Dartz without any sign of happiness or even nervousness, the blond girl couldn't help but wonder the true intentions behind Yugi's choice to marry Dartz.

"We gather here today," the priest said a feeble, weedy voice, "to bind these two men together in holy matrimony…"

Dartz smiled in evil satisfaction as he looked from the blank-faced Yugi to the sunset on the distant horizon.

'_Finally…after all these years of waiting…the Great Leviathan will return once again!'_

Out of nowhere a faint noise behind him made Dartz freeze where he stood.

"_CHARGE_!" yelled Marik.

As he turned around, Dartz found himself being dive-bombed by a flock of seagulls, which pushed him backward into the pedestal, knocking both it and the priest over.

Dartz zapped spells at the seagulls to force them away from him, furious for having his plans going awry; unfortunately for him, he was severely outnumbered by the flock and couldn't possibly hit them all at once. Then Ryou and Bakura leapt onto the deck, throwing starfish and water at Dartz to keep him away from his spot at the ceremony.

"_Get his necklace_!" said Bakura, pointing at the Orikalkos pendant around Dartz's neck.

The human crowd around them gasped and screamed in alarm, backing up at the sight of rabid-acting seagulls and two freakish men with fish tails. Tristan rushed to aid Yugi's fiancé out of duty, but Valon held him back.

"Nay, Tristan," he told him, smiling as he recognized Bakura as the red-tailed merman his father had set free from his net so long ago. "I think those mates are doing us a _favor_."

Tea looked ready to argue, but Chris nodded in agreement.

"Yugi doesn't love Dartz," she stated firmly. "The one he loves hasn't shown up yet."

With that, the little brown-haired girl let go of Sky's leash, letting her dog bound over to Dartz, barking loudly and biting and scratching every bit of him he could get a hold of.

Then a sword slammed down into the floor near where Sky was, almost cutting his paw.

Yugi stood in front of Dartz protectively, his sword drawn and his face forced into an expression of blank determination.

"Get away from my fiancé," he snapped in a monotone.

"Don't hurt him!" Ryou implored Marik and his flock. "He's under a _spell_!"

"A _spell_…?" Rebecca whispered.

Sky whimpered and backed away, still fixing angry eyes upon the smirking Dartz using his master's friend as a shield. Rebecca's green eyes narrowed as she finally realized what Sky and Chris had been saying all along was 100 percent accurate.

"I'm sorry, Yugi," she murmured, before she kicked over a bucket of soapy water in the corner that had been used to swab the deck.

The mind-controlled Yugi slipped and slammed face-first into the floor, dropping his sword and making it slide toward the other side of the deck.

"_CHARGE_!" Rebecca cried at the flock of seagulls.

After that, the action on the ship went in total chaos. The seagulls once again dive-bombed Dartz, who blasted spells at them while trying to control Yugi enough to make him retrieve his sword. Tristan and Tea were on the side watching the action, debating whether to help Rebecca and Chris or to obey Yugi's supposed wishes. Ryou gripped Sky's leash so that the dog could pull him closer to Dartz and, when he did, he smacked him continuously upside the face with his tail.

"_THIS…IS…FOR…MAKING…ATEMU…CRY…YOU…BASTARD_!"

Unfortunately, Ryou was a much bigger target than the seagulls, so it was quite easy for Dartz to force him away. With a single blast of red magic from Dartz's fist, Ryou was thrown painfully backward into the side of the ship, bruising the merman's back.

Roaring with fury, Bakura flapped over to Dartz; seeing the difficulty the shorthaired albino was having getting across the deck, Valon ran over, grabbed Bakura's hand and gently tossed him toward the Warlock, allowing Bakura to slam his tail into Dartz's feet to make him fall over. Raphael then leapt onto Dartz and wrapped one of his heavily muscled arms around his neck to restrain him while Bakura struggled over to Ryou.

"Are you alright, Aibou?"

Ryou nodded weakly but nevertheless got up with determination.

Valon and Amelda came over with some bandages and Amelda wrapped them around Ryou's chest over his bruises.

"There," said Amelda, tying the bandages tightly but gently around the pale merman. "That should help cushion those some."

Bakura gave the humans a rare smile. "Thanks."

"No problem, mate," Valon answered with a smile. "If you're here to help Yugi, _we_ should be thanking _you_."

Suddenly Dartz blasted Raphael off him and into the deck with an almost explosion of blue-green light. His Orikalkos medallion flashing, he brandished his hand at the flock of seagulls, throwing them backward and even breaking a few of the birds' wings. The controlled Yugi picked up his sword and once more took his previous position in front of Dartz, his sword pointed at each of the merman and his friends in turn.

"You can't win, you fools," Dartz scorned Bakura and Ryou. "It'll take a lot more than you two misfits, a couple of humans and a bunch of poultry to defeat me."

"Well, then," a voice called out behind him, "maybe _I'll_ influence the odds!"

Yami leapt onto Dartz, his scarlet eyes burning with hatred, and kicked and punched every bit of him he could get his hands on.

"The _pendant_, Yami!" Joey urged as he pulled himself onboard too. "_Get the pendant_!"

At his blond friend's words, Yami reached for the Orikalkos medallion; Dartz punched him in the chest, his fist shining with furious blue-green magic, thrusting him backwards.

"You are more trouble than you're _worth_!" Dartz snarled. "Now to use the Orikalkos to destroy you _forever_…!"

But when he tried to activate his Orikalkos magic, he realized that the source of his power was missing.

Dartz gasped in horror as Yami looked down at the turquoise pendant in his hand in both confusion and triumph.

"_Alright_!" cheered Ryou. "Now he can't use magic!"

Unfortunately, Ryou was wrong. Even though Dartz no longer wore his Orikalkos pendant, it was still _part_ of him, and so although he couldn't blast magic spells anymore, he had his more dangerous weapon remaining.

The mind-controlled Yugi lifted his sword and raised it to hit Yami, forcing the merman-turned-human to jump out of the way.

Tea started forward, but Tristan held her back before Yugi could slash at her.

"Yugi…_stop_!" she cried.

At last Yami was able to grab onto Yugi's wrist and struggled to pull the sword out of Yugi's hands and away from him.

"Yugi, it's _me_!" Yami implored. "It's _me_…_Yami_!"

But nothing he said worked. The blank look in Yugi's usually happy eyes cut Yami like a knife. It was as if the man he loved had died and become a shadow of his previous self.

"_Yami_, _smash the pendant_!" Bakura yelled. "Smash it _now_!"

Yami struggled to hold Yugi's sword away from him just to look at the Orikalkos pendant still clenched in his fist.

"You do _anything_ to that, and I'll make Yugi slice you in _half_!" threatened Dartz.

But Yami no longer cared about what happened to him…he just wanted Yugi to be out of Dartz's control. He lifted his hand slightly in the air before thrusting the medallion into the floor and shattering it into a billion pieces.

"_NOOOOOO_!" roared Dartz.

A great light erupted from the smashed medallion, engulfing Yami and Yugi in its blue-green embrace and blinding the onlookers. Tea again started toward Yugi and his love in worry, but the light made her bring her hands up in front of her eyes.

Within the light, Yami felt oddly distant from everything. He faintly heard Yugi drop his sword as he was finally let out of Dartz's control, but Atemu's vision was blinded by turquoise light and images zipping past his eyes like a fast-forwarded movie…

* * *

"_**I'm sorry, Your Majesty…" the doctor murmured, "we couldn't save her…the Queen…is dead."**_

_**It was the first and only time Atemu ever saw his father cry.**_

* * *

"_**I win, Seto!" a little Atemu laughed in triumph.**_

**_A little Seto growled in frustration. "_This_ time, maybe…but _next_ time, I _will_ beat you."_**

* * *

"_**Thanks for the help, guys," muttered Joey as Atemu and Ryou helped bandage up some of the wounds his father had inflicted on him the previous night.**_

"_**What are friends for?" asked Atemu.**_

* * *

"**_This High Court order," announced Aknadin, "hereby banishes the merman, Ryou, from the kingdom for the rest of his life, for fraternizing with humans, a violation against Law 28 stated by King Aknamkanon…"_**

"_**They can't do this!" Atemu whispered in a type of angry misery. His pale albino friend's eyes were filling up with tears as the sentence was read.**_

"_**There's nothing we can do to stop them," Joey murmured, his voice similar to Atemu.**_

* * *

"**Seto_!" _**

_**Atemu swam up to greet his cousin, delighted to see him once more…but he stopped quite abruptly at the very cold, expressionless look in his eyes.**_

"_**Cousin?"**_

_**Seto very stiffly knelt like a servant at Atemu's feet, making the prince move slightly back in surprise at his odd behavior.**_

"_**I live to serve you, Your Highness," Seto stated in a very quiet, empty tone.**_

* * *

"**_And who are _these_ people, chibi Aibou?" the stranger hissed, looking at Atemu and Joey suspiciously as he swam behind Ryou and put his arms around him possessively._**

"**Aibou_?" Joey repeated in shock. "This is your _Aibou_, Ryou?"_**

_**Ryou nodded with a sheepish grin on his face. "Atemu, Joey…meet Bakura."**_

* * *

"_**Duel Monsters," Ryou corrected as Atemu looked over the drawings on the cards in awe. "You see, each monster card has an attack power, a defense power and sometimes a special effect. You have to fight your opponent with these monsters and helpful cards called magic and traps, until either you surrender or you wipe out your opponent's lifepoints."**_

"**Duel Monsters_…" Atemu murmured, before his face broke out into a smirk. "It sounds fun! I wish I had more cards…and someone to play with," he added with a slight sigh._**

* * *

_**Atemu dove underneath the water fearfully, and his eyes widened at the sight of an unconscious Yugi, the gold box tight under his arm, falling down through the dark water.**_

_**The merprince swam down as fast as he could, snatched the human prince into his arms, puzzle box and all, and pulled him up to the surface.**_

'**I've got you, my Yugi…I will not let you die…'**

* * *

"**_You don't even know what love _is_, Atemu!" disputed Aknamkanon, his temper rising. "You only desire what you can't _have_, as _all_ teenagers do!"_**

"**Oh_?" Atemu growled, his red eyes narrowing. "And I suppose you were just _desiring_ Mother, because you couldn't have _possibly_ been in love in _her_!"_**

**_Aknamkanon snapped at the mention of his deceased wife. "So help me, Atemu…I'm going to get through to you…and if _this_ is the only way…" he pointed his staff at one of the shelves of the grotto as it glowed with magic, "…so be it."_**

* * *

"_**Rex and Weevil are taking me to see Dartz," the mer-prince explained simply.**_

"**The Warlock of Orikalkos_?" Ryou repeated in horror. "Atemu, _no_!"_**

"**_You _can't_!" Seto argued, swimming in front of Atemu to stop him from going farther. "He's _dangerous_!"_**

* * *

"**_Now listen carefully," Dartz said seriously. "I will cast a spell on you that will transform you into a human for three days…just three, so make them _count_, little blackfish. Before the sun sets on the third day, you've got to make little Yugi fall in love with you. In other words, he must give you his first, _binding_ kiss…_the kiss of true love_. If he _does_ kiss you before sunset on the third day, you will remain human for the rest of the eternity…but, if he _doesn't_, you'll turn back into a merman and…"_**

_**His eyes grew a dark, menacing glint that made Atemu shrink back as he tapped the Orikalkos pendant around his neck with one of his long pale fingers.**_

"…_**Your soul belongs to me."**_

* * *

**_Atemu turned back to Dartz._**

"_**Very well, Dartz…I accept your terms."**_

* * *

The turquoise light and visions broke in unison. Yami's eyes blinked rapidly, to find Yugi in his arms and lifting his head up to look at him.

"_Yami_…?" he murmured, looking very confused as to where he was and very dizzy after all of the turmoil in his head.

"_Yugi_…" Yami whispered, staring at Yugi as if he hadn't seen anything like him before.

Then, out of nowhere, he practically glomped Yugi and held him tight.

"_Aibou_, you're _alright_! Aibou, you're free from his control! Thank the _Gods_, Aibou…!"

Yugi's eyes shot wide open at the foreign word for _'partner' _erupting from Yami's mouth over and over again, disbelieving.

"_Aibou_…?"

Yami pulled away from Yugi but just couldn't let go of him entirely.

"Oh, Aibou…forgive me for putting you through this…my name is Atemu. I saw you on Valon's ship on your birthday and I _knew_ as soon as I saw you, Yugi…I _knew_ you were the one I wanted to spend the rest of my _life_ with. I was the one who rescued you from the shipwreck…I had to give up my memory to have _any_ opportunity to tell you-"

"You know your _name_?" asked Yugi in a very weak voice, his mind overloaded with all of this new information and his eyes welling up with tears.

"Yes, Yugi, _yes_," Atemu (as he once again knew he was called) murmured, stroking Yugi's cheek as their noses touched, "I remember my name now, Aibou…"

Dartz started toward Atemu, his eyes flashing angrily. "You little…get _away_ from him-"

Tristan and Raphael quickly moved to restrain him so he couldn't separate the two, but Yugi and Atemu didn't make any reference to the Warlock's outburst.

"You…gave up your memory…just to _find_ me?" Yugi inquired in soft disbelief.

Atemu looked at the floor, before forcing himself to look back up at his love. "I obviously hadn't been thinking straight, as we were so focused on my past I couldn't find a time to talk to you about my feelings…but yes, I did, Yugi…I would do _anything_ for you, my little Aibou…_anything_ to make you happy."

Tears trickled down Yugi's cheeks. "Yami, I…I mean, Atemu…I…I don't know what to _say_…except…_you are the most handsome, kind, wonderful idiot I've ever met_!"

Atemu chuckled, and Yugi moved in closer to snuggle his cheek. The human prince's bangs brushed up against the merprince-turned-human's forehead as Yugi's lips moved close to Atemu's, ready to find its proper place against them…

"_NO_!" roared Dartz.

But before their lips could meet, Atemu shouted out in violent pain, his knees buckling as he collapsed onto the floor.

"_ATEMU_!" cried Ryou.

"_ATEMU_!" yelled Bakura.

"_NO_!" Joey shouted.

The reddening sun had finally set below the darkening horizon.

"_You're too late, little blackfish_!" Dartz laughed hysterically. "_You're too late_!"

"_Atemu_!" Yugi said anxiously, going over to him at once. "Atemu…what's wrong? _AH_!"

A blast of white light erupted from Atemu's body, making Yugi shield his eyes, and when the light evaporated, Yugi realized Atemu's tan legs were a single black fish tail.

He gasped. Atemu looked at Yugi with immense regret in his red eyes.

"I'm sorry…Aibou…"

Dartz yanked free of Raphael and Tristan as a blue-green shark tail replaced his legs, and with one hand, he snatched Atemu by the collar away from Yugi.

"Sayonara, little Yugi!" he mocked, laughing psychotically and pulling both him and Atemu into the water.

"ATEMU, _NO_!" Yugi cried, running over to the side of the ship in time to see them disappear into the blue depths.

Bakura, Ryou and Joey immediately scrambled to the edge to the ship as to follow them. Bakura and Joey had already jumped into the water by the time Ryou got to the edge, but Yugi stopped the longhaired albino before he could follow the other two mermen.

"_Wait_!" he implored. "You're Atemu's _friend_, right?"

"Yes," Ryou answered, distracted by his want to follow Joey and Bakura but knowing Yugi would only stop him if it were important.

"I want to go with you," Yugi stated firmly.

"You can't," Ryou pointed out. "Dartz's lair is underwater."

Yugi thought for a moment, before he turned to his friends.

"Where's my Puzzle?"

Sky trotted over to Yugi, holding the golden Puzzle box in his mouth.

Yugi took it from the dog, patting his head in thanks, and looked at the uncompleted puzzle inside, before he picked up the final almost-star-shaped piece and fitted it into the puzzle as he stated his wish,

"I wish to be the same species as Atemu."


	12. Chapter 11: A Trade to End All

_**Chapter 11: A Trade to End All**_

Atemu struggled to get free from Dartz's cold grasp as the Warlock pulled him further and further down into the ocean and further and further away from his love back on the ship. Unfortunately, as I'm sure you recall, transforming from one thing into another is very trying on one's body, so after two transformations in three days, Atemu felt as weak as a paper doll. Nevertheless he, as the stubborn prince he was, was not about to give up and let Dartz see him hopeless.

"_Let…go_..._of me_!" the merprince hissed, fruitlessly trying to pull away from Dartz.

"You listen to him!" Bakura growled as he and Joey swam toward the two. "Or else I'll show you what I do to people who mess with friends of my Aibou!"

Then, out of nowhere, Rex and Weevil appeared and restrained Atemu with their eel tails, shocking him with painful electricity.

"Now, _now_, you two," Dartz laughed scornfully, "would you rather your friend's soul be _mine_…or would you rather him _die_?"

Both Bakura and Joey looked ready to rip the Warlock to shreds, but they knew they had no choice but to stand down.

The turquoise-tailed merman smirked at the two, before facing Atemu and grabbing his chin to make him look at him.

"You made a _deal_ with me, little blackfish, and by that deal, your soul now belongs to _me_…fortunately for you, it's not _you_ I'm after."

Atemu's eyes narrowed. "What are you talking about?"

Dartz's smirk broadened. "I've got a much _bigger_ fish to fry than _you_, little prince…"

"_You_ are the one about to get _fried_, Dartz," snapped a voice behind him.

It was King Aknamkanon. The green magical staff in his hand was glowing to accent his anger, and aligned behind him with various weapons ready to fight was the High Court.

"_Father_!" Atemu breathed in relief.

"_Seto_!" said Joey, also sounding relieved.

The blue-tailed High Priest swam over to Joey.

"Are you alright?" he inquired seriously.

Joey nodded. "I'm fine."

Aknamkanon pointed his staff at Dartz, his eyes flashing dangerously.

"Release my son at _once_," he demanded in a very cold, quiet voice.

Dartz laughed psychotically; the King looked irritated at his amusement to all this, but it was apparent he also was a bit confused.

"King Aknamkanon, I'm _surprised_ at you," Dartz sneered. "I made an _agreement_ with your precious son…and agreements must be _honored_, particularly when they are ones _royalty_ has made. I agreed to make him a human, and if he did not get his little human Aibou to kiss him by sunset, his soul would be mine…and he did not."

"Father…I'm sorry," Atemu whispered helplessly. "I…I didn't know what else to do…"

Aknamkanon's face did not reflect any anger toward his son; if anything, it was guilt.

"I know," he murmured. "You _did_ have no other choice…had I not lost my temper and destroyed your things…you would never have accepted Dartz's aid."

"It is not your fault, Your Majesty," Seto protested. "_I_ was the one who told you-"

"You were simply concerned for Atemu," Aknamkanon interrupted quietly. "My concern faded away as soon as I heard humans were involved…I let my anger take over…and for that, I am sorry, Atemu."

He faced the Warlock of Orikalkos once more. "Dartz…you like making deals. Take my soul in Atemu's place."

"_NO_!" the High Priests and Joey yelled in unison.

"FATHER, YOU _CAN'T_!" Atemu shouted.

Dartz smirked, his eyes bright with triumph. "I accept your proposition."

He snapped his fingers, and purple-black bubbles surrounded them as they had with Atemu and Dartz when the merprince had first agreed to his terms three days ago.

"FATHER!" Atemu yelled, struggling against Rex and Weevil's hold. "_FATHER_!"

When the bubbles finally cleared, Aknamkanon's body lay lifeless on the seafloor, and a stone tablet with an image of a trapped Aknamkanon stood behind Dartz.

'_The stone tablets from his castle…'_ Atemu realized, _'…they're…soul tablets!'_

"At _last_…" Dartz whispered, his eyes full of hunger as he took the magical staff from the lifeless Aknamkanon, "…at _long_ _last_…it's _mine_!"

He shot a scornful glance over at Atemu.

"Oh…a deal's a deal, little blackfish…you're off the hook…thank you _ever_ so much for your _cooperation_."

Rex and Weevil released Atemu, who immediately swam over to the King's soul tablet.

"_Father_," the merprince murmured, his crimson eyes full of pain.

As he studied his father's face, Atemu suddenly realized that crystal tears were trickling down Aknamkanon's stone cheeks from his carved eyes.

Tears came to Atemu's eyes as well, but they weren't merely tears of sadness; they were tears of fury.

"You…" he growled, his vision shifting toward Dartz, "…_you_…YOU BASTARD!"

His physical weakness forgotten, Atemu lunged for the Warlock, but Dartz blasted him away from him with the royal magical staff.

"_Your Highness_!" cried Isis, swimming over and immediately helping him up.

The other members of the Court, as well as Bakura and Joey, swam protectively in front of the merprince.

"You want the prince," Mahaado challenged bravely, "you have to go through us first."

Dartz sneered. "Very well, then; sacrifice your own souls…it won't _change_ anything."

Karim and Shada swam toward the Warlock, swords raised and yelling battle cries, but Dartz beat them both with two small blasts from his staff, and their souls were trapped by two more stone tablets that appeared beside their limp bodies.

Each of the Court members tried their hand after Karim and Shada, only to fall at Dartz's more powerful magic.

"_FATHER_!" Seto shouted as Aknadin was blasted into the side of a cave

He rushed to his father's aid.

"Father, lie still…I'll try a spell Shada-"

"No," Aknadin rasped, moving his head to one side in an attempt to shake his head _'no.'_ "If I am to lose my soul in the service of my brother and nephew…so be it."

"But-" Seto immediately protested.

"We are High Priests, Seto…" Aknadin interrupted him faintly, his eyes struggling to stay open, "…our souls…and lives…were meant to be _second_…to the royal heirs."

And with those words said, Seto's father's eyes slid closed at last and his soul left his body to be etched in stone.

Seto's eyes filled with angry tears as he looked back at Dartz. He was so furious, he didn't even attempt to use a weapon; he only charged toward Dartz, his blue eyes flashing. It took three blasts for Dartz to finally get him down, but when the determined Seto was down, he was really down.

"_SETO_!" Joey shouted, swimming over to the lifeless body of the blue-tailed merman.

A stone tablet behind his body now held the image of a furious, yet grieved, Seto, and Joey's heart ached at the look in the etched Seto's eyes. He held the blue-tailed merman's body close to him, trying to hold back tears.

"No…" the blond whispered weakly, his warm brown eyes filling with tears as well. "Seto…_no_…"

"Accept it, you three, you've _lost_," scorned Dartz. "The King is gone…the Royal Court has fallen…and you all will be easy pickings. You may as well take your lives and swim away while you _can_…of course, you won't last long no matter _what_ you do, so what does it _matter_?"

Suddenly, out of nowhere, a harpoon whizzed through the water and slammed into Dartz's arm. The Warlock roared in pain, yanking the harpoon out of his freely bleeding arm in fury.

"Who are you to interfere with-?"

He stopped his furious demand abruptly at the sight of a merman with narrowed violet eyes, wet tricolor hair falling onto his shoulders and a pure white fishtail where his legs should've been.

"_Yugi_!" Joey realized.

"_Aibou_!" Atemu cried, confused, relieved and worried, all at the same time.

Ryou swam along behind Yugi as the two rushed to join Joey, Bakura and Atemu; they were stopped, however, when Rex and Weevil obscured their way, their eel tails sparking with deadly electricity.

But Yugi was not about to let electricity keep him away from Atemu, so he did the first thing he could think of. He leapt onto Rex and began pulling his hair while continuously whacking Weevil on the head with his new tail.

"STAY…AWAY…FROM…MY…PARTNER…YOU…LOUSY…_EELS_!"

Ryou and Joey didn't know whether to admire Yugi or think he was crazy. Bakura looked ready to laugh at how well an innocent young man like Yugi was handling Dartz's two henchmen. Atemu was grinning proudly. Dartz at first looked dumbstruck, before he started barking at his eel-tailed minions.

"You idiots, don't let a naïve human like _that_ restrain you! _Get rid of him_!"

Rex and Weevil struggled to obey Dartz's orders, but they just couldn't get their tails around Yugi well enough so they could shock him.

"_Fine_!" snapped Dartz, losing his temper and pointing the royal magic staff at Yugi. "I'll destroy him _myself_!"

"_NO_!" Atemu yelled.

He swam so fast into Dartz that he was able to grab the staff in the Warlock's hands and redirect his magic blast away from Yugi and off a cave wall so it hit both Rex and Weevil, making them explode in tiny bursts of green and purple magic.

"_No_!" Dartz cried when he realized he'd destroyed his own henchmen.

Atemu grabbed Yugi's hand and pulled him toward the surface, desperate to get his aibou away from danger, and Bakura, Ryou and Joey (who was pulling the soulless Seto with him on his back) swam as fast as they could after him.

Dartz's breathing became slow, loud and enraged. His green and gold eyes glowed with bright magic as he roared wrathfully,

"_ATEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEMUUUUUUUUUUUU_!"

The Warlock's roar made the waves at the ocean's surface crash violently against the beach just as they would if a giant hurricane were about to arrive and flood the entire world. Atemu paid no mind to the turmoil, however, as he and his friends shoved their heads above the water.

"Aibou…_how_ did you…?"

"The puzzle's wish," Yugi explained quickly. "I wanted to help you."

Atemu put his hands on Yugi's shoulders firmly, his eyes shining with worry. "Aibou, you must get out of here-"

The merprince and Yugi were thrown back away from one another as a powerful blast of water splashed upwards between them. Many other spinning water blasts followed, making almost pillars of whirlpools that trapped Atemu in their grasp, separating him from Yugi and his friends.

"_ATEMU_!" Yugi cried, struggling to reach his love.

"_AIBOU_!" Atemu shouted, trying fruitlessly to swim around and past the whirlpool pillars. "AIBOU…JOEY, RYOU…GET AWAY BEFORE- _AHHH_!"

A huge black claw had reached out of the water, snatched Atemu and raised him into the air as the black reptilian body connected to the claw rose out of the ocean's depths.

"_No_," said Bakura, his lavender eyes wide in disbelief. "No, it…it _can't_ be…!"

"_The Great Leviathan_," Joey murmured. "I thought…it was just a _legend_…"

Almost all merpeople did…until that day.

The Leviathan's eyes were a dark purple that glowed menacingly down at the merprince, and on its forehead was what looked like a purple and black figurine with blue-green hair that had its limbs melted and sewed into the Leviathan's skin. It took Atemu quite a while before he realized the _"figurine"_ was Dartz, and that he had fused himself with the reptile as to increase his power.

"YOU PITIFUL FOOL," Dartz's voice thundered down at Atemu. "YOU THINK YOU CAN STAND UP AGAINST _ME_? _ME_, THE MOST POWERFUL WARLOCK IN THE ENTIRE OCEAN?"

Sunken ships of all eras returned to the surface from the depths that they had sunken to amongst purple and green lightning from the Leviathan's mouth. 

"I CAN REVERSE TIME AND SPACE…I CAN DESTROY AND CREATE ANYTHING…I CAN CHANGE YOUR PITIFUL KINGDOM INTO A REALM OF _MY_ CHOOSING…OCEAN AND LAND ALIKE ARE MINE TO COMMAND…ALL WILL BOW DOWN AND BEG FOR MY MERCY!"

The Leviathan's sharp claw tightened around Atemu, and he cried out in pain as the sharp talons made slashing cuts on his tan arms.

"_Atemu_!" Yugi whispered, his eyes filled with fear.

He looked at the sunken ships now floating above the water, and in an instant, he made up his mind.

The white-tailed human-turned-merman dove beneath the water and swam underneath the whirlpool pillars so that he was next to a ship with a merman figurehead holding a large wooden trident that branched out in front of the ship like a spear. Jumping as high as he could out of the water until he could grab onto the edge of the ship, Yugi pulled himself on board and flapped over toward the helm of the ship.

Yugi grabbed onto the steering wheel of the ship and struggled to turn the ship around so the merman's trident was facing the Great Leviathan.

"WITH THE LEVIATHAN FUSED TO ME, I AM INVINCIBLE!" Dartz's voice continued, not taking any notice of Yugi steering the ship towards him. "WITH ALL OF THE SOULS I'VE COLLECTED IN ALL THE CENTURIES I HAVE LIVED, WE TOGETHER HAVE ALL THE ENERGY WE NEED TO DESTROY THE ENTIRE WORLD!"

As the ship made its way through the crashing waves, Yugi suddenly found himself becoming very, very thirsty, as if he had been journeying through the desert and hadn't had anything to drink in days. He was not a natural merman, so the King of Games couldn't have known that his scales were slowly drying out. Even if he had, however, he was not going to let Dartz kill Atemu.

'_I'm coming, Atemu,'_ he thought determinedly. _'Hold on…I'm coming…'_

His vision was flickering in front of his eyes and he struggled to breath steadily, but he knew, no matter what happened to him, he was the only one that could save Atemu now…and that was what mattered.

"AND THE FIRST THING I WILL DO WITH MY POWER," Dartz's booming voice stated as the Leviathan's eyes narrowed evilly at Atemu, "IS OBLITERATE YOU ONCE AND FOR ALL!"

Yugi's violet eyes narrowed, holding onto the wheel even tighter to try and steady both himself and the ship.

"_NO…YOU…WON'T_!" he shouted as loud as he could as the wooden trident of the ship's figurehead finally punctured the Leviathan's chest.

Both the Leviathan and Dartz screamed in violent spasms of pain. The Leviathan's claw released Atemu and the merprince fell back into the water below. The black sea serpent writhed, trying to pull away from the wooden trident cutting into its body, before it slowly sank into the water, falling down, down, down, down into the dark depths of death.

And unbeknownst to Yugi, Atemu and the other mermen near the surface, the soul tablets were crumbling as the trapped souls returned to their bodies. The Royal Court and King alike gripped their heads as if they were in pain, looking around at each other and smiling, for they knew that Dartz had been defeated.

Seto also slowly opened his eyes, to find himself on Joey's back. Smiling slightly and deciding not to make any movement for fear of the blond letting go of him, he lay still and enjoyed his small stretch of time so close to Joey.

Yugi's mouth went up in a weak smile despite his head throbbing and his vision failing.

"He's…safe…" he whispered faintly.

And he collapsed onto the deck of the ship.


	13. Chapter 12: Where Two Hearts Belong

_**Chapter 12: Where Two Hearts Belong**_

Ryou and Bakura embraced one other tightly. Joey heaved a sigh of relief. The danger, and short reign of King Dartz, was over.

Atemu splashed over to them, and Ryou gave him a relieved hug as well. Atemu smiled at all of them, but his smile faded abruptly when he found a very important one of their number not present.

"Where's Aibou?"

The other mermen looked around in shock and worry. Suddenly Seto lifted himself off of Joey's back and pointed to one of the ships now sinking once more into the ocean.

"_There_!"

Yugi was lying near the helm on the slowly sinking deck, his wide violet eyes closed and his body motionless.

"_AIBOU_!"

Atemu blasted over like a bullet, leaned over the deck and pulled Yugi off of the ship as it sank back into the water. Bakura felt the innocent's pulse, before splashing water on him to try and revive him.

"He's not responding!" Bakura muttered in both frustration and anxiety.

"Yugi…" Atemu whispered, his eyes filled in terror. "Aibou, _please_, open your eyes!"

"_Stand back_!" Ryou said urgently.

He quite abruptly pushed Bakura aside, pinched Yugi's nose shut and fastened his lips onto Yugi's.

Both Atemu and Bakura's jaws dropped.

"_Aibou_!" squeaked Bakura, ready to pull Ryou away from Yugi, but stopped by Seto.

Ryou breathed into Yugi's mouth, before using both of his hands to press down on Yugi's chest.

"_One_!" he counted each time he pushed down on Yugi's chest resolutely. "_Two_! _Three_! _Four_!"

The long-haired albino breathed again into Yugi's mouth, and then repeated the pressure to his chest.

"_One_! _Two_! _Three_! _Four_!"

He breathed once more. The other mermen around him watched and waited as he repeated the process yet again, looking desperate.

"_One_! _Two_! _Three_…!"

Yugi coughed harshly, and the others were finally able to breathe again.

"_Aibou_," Atemu murmured, pulling Yugi into his arms and holding him close. "Thanks the _Gods_, Aibou…"

Bakura splashed some more water onto the human-turned-merman to make sure they caught him while he could breathe.

"Aibou, how did you know to do that?" the tanned albino inquired.

Ryou smiled. "Merpeople have both gills and a weak set of lungs that's used above water until their scales dry out…of course, we have to learn how to use them properly when we're young so we can breathe above water. Yugi changed forms very recently, so he was weak to begin with, and he didn't know anything about merman anatomy. The struggle to breathe above and out of the water became too much for him, so I did as a human would've done to help force oxygen back into Yugi's bloodstream…the so-called _'kiss of life'_…mouth-to-mouth resuscitation."

Bakura sighed in relief. "Ah…I see."

Ryou raised an eyebrow. "Were you _jealous_ for a second there, 'Kura?"

Bakura looked flustered. "W-well…you looked like you were _snogging_ him! Can you _blame_ me?"

Ryou giggled and pecked Bakura's cheek. "You never have to worry, my big handsome Aibou…you're the only one for me."

Yugi sighed quietly, looking up at Atemu with vague eyes. "You're…alright…"

"Yes, Aibou," answered Atemu quietly, stroking Yugi's face tenderly. "I'm fine…"

"Dartz is…gone?"

"Yes, Aibou, he is."

Yugi sighed again, laying his head on Atemu's shoulder. "Thank goodness…I…I thought…I wouldn't make it…that he'd…"

"_Shh_," Atemu quieted him gently, stroking his hair soothingly. "He did not. I'm safe…you're safe…everyone's safe."

Joey, Seto, Ryou and Bakura nodded.

"You saved us all, Yugi," Joey told him, putting a hand on the violet-eyed young man's shoulder. "We sure are lucky you were there."

Yugi smiled faintly in gratitude.

"_Yugi_!"

The group of merpeople turned to see two small boats making their way toward them. In the first were Valon, Amelda, Raphael, Chris and Sky; the other held Tea, Tristan, Rebecca and King Solomon.

"_Grandpa_!" Yugi breathed, gently pulling out of Atemu's arms and swimming over to him, looking delighted.

King Solomon hugged his grandson tightly. "Thank the Gods you're _safe_, my boy…we were all so _worried_ about you."

"We thought the storm might've gotten you," Rebecca added. "Are you all okay?"

"We're fine," Atemu replied, wrapping an arm around Yugi, "thanks to Aibou here."

Tea's eyes widened ever-so-slightly at the loving glance the two shared in that moment.

"So…you really _were_ the one who rescued Yugi."

Atemu looked at Tea in slight surprise, and nodded.

Tea smiled, half saddened for herself and half happy for Yugi. "I'm glad you two found each other."

Atemu returned her half-hearted smile with one of gratitude. "Thank you."

"But…" Tristan stammered, "w-what happens _now_? Yugi can't rule the kingdom…looking like _that_!"

"_Tristan_!" Chris reproached, and Valon, Amelda and Raphael glared at him.

"But it's _true_!" Tristan said defensively. "Without Yugi, there's no heir to the _throne_! For all _we_ know, the Big Five could take over and make the kingdom go into _anarchy_!"

"Tristan, shut your mouth," snapped Rebecca angrily.

Yugi looked down, his violet eyes filled with conflict.

'_Even though Tristan's words are mean, they're also true…what might happen at home without me there to rule it?'_

"Aibou…you must return to them."

Yugi looked up at Atemu in shock. "W-_what_?"

Atemu's eyes and voice were serious. "Tristan is right; without a ruler, the Big Five could _easily_ take control. They need a _strong_ king, Yugi…they need _you_."

"But _I_ need _you_!" Yugi argued, his eyes filling with tears as he grabbed hold of him.

"_Aibou_…" Atemu murmured, looking torn whether or not to push him away and make him go home or to make him stay and never let go of him again.

"Your Aibou's friend might be right, Atemu," said a voice behind them, "but your Aibou also is."

Atemu turned to see Aknamkanon, his soul returned and the royal staff once more in his hand. Behind him was the loyal High Court, their souls back as well.

"_Father_!" Atemu realized.

The merprince hugged Aknamkanon tightly, and the King returned the tight embrace.

"I am glad you are safe, my son," he murmured, pulling away at last.

"I'm so sorry, Father," Atemu apologized. "If I hadn't been so stupid, I would _never_ have played into Dartz's hands and he would _never_ have stolen your power-"

"You had no other choice if you wished to be with your Aibou," his father interrupted.

He turned to look at Yugi. "You are the human Prince Yugi?"

"Yes, Your Majesty," Yugi answered respectfully.

"_King Aknamkanon_," breathed Valon, his eyes wide. "Atlantis _Almighty_…"

He and his crew bowed their heads in respect; Aknamkanon acknowledged them with a slight nod before returning his gaze to Yugi.

"I can now see what drew Atemu to you, little Yugi…you are a very brave young man…and I believe you could give my son a very happy life."

He sighed, and his face grew a more somber look. "I suppose there's only one problem left remaining."

There was a slight silence; then Atemu inquired quietly, "And what is that, Father?"

Aknamkanon looked at his son with a sad smile. "How much I'm going to miss you."

They embraced once more, and when he pulled away, Atemu saw, to his surprise, that Aknamkanon's eyes were watery.

"I know…" Aknamkanon whispered, his voice cracking slightly, "…if she were here…your mother would be _very_ proud of you, my son…as am I."

Atemu's heart ached slightly at the memory of his mother, knowing how painful it must've been for his father to mention her again.

"Thank you, Father."

"But Your Majesty," Isis dissented quickly, "if Atemu is not going to rule…who will be your heir?"

There was another short silence; then Atemu slowly turned to Seto.

"Cousin…" the prince started with a slight smile, "…you said so yourself that you learn a hell of a lot more that I do in our lessons with Shada…"

Seto stared, disbelieving. "B-but…you _can't_ mean-"

Atemu nodded firmly. "Yes…I want you to succeed my father in my place…but only on three conditions."

Seto hesitated. "And what might those be?"

"First," said Atemu, "you will revoke Ryou's banishment so that he and Bakura can travel where they please."

"_Atemu_!" cried Ryou, looking both surprised at Atemu making this a condition for Seto to rule and elated at the chance of going home for the first time in years.

"Second," Atemu continued without making a reference to Ryou's outburst, "you will start to open up talks with the humans…Aibou and I will be glad to assist you with that."

Yugi smiled and nodded in agreement.

"And third," Atemu concluded, his voice serious until his face broke into a broad smirk, "just go on and propose to Joey already, you two are driving me _crazy_ by your pace!"

"_ATEMU_!" snapped Joey angrily, blushing as red as a tomato.

Atemu and Bakura laughed. Seto, blushing quite red himself, nodded after a moment.

"Very well, Atemu…I agree to your terms."

Atemu raised an eyebrow and feigned doubt. "_Hmm_…why do I not _believe_ you, coz?"

"You think I'm _lying_?" asked Seto.

"Why _yes_, I think I do," Atemu challenged playfully.

Seto gave his classic game-ready smirk. "Well then, I'll prove my honesty to you."

He turned to Joey abruptly. "Dogfish."

"Huh?" asked Joey, looking rather taken aback.

Seto, without taking his eyes off Joey's face, knelt at the blond merman's feet.

"Will you be my Aibou?"

Joey choked; then his eyes narrowed and he retorted angrily to Seto's question.

"_WHAT_? You think I would _ever_ say yes to a self-centered, stuck-up bastard like _you_?"

Seto smiled pleasantly. "Yes."

Out of nowhere, Joey practically glomped Seto and kissed him full on the mouth, taking even Seto by surprise.

After a few seconds, the blond pulled away, grinning broadly. "A hundred times yes, you good-for-nothing rich boy."

Seto stroked Joey's hair affectionately. "Love you too, dogfish."

The humans in the boats nearby blinked in confusion at the two mermen's behavior. Bakura, Ryou and Atemu, however, were smiling broadly.

Seto looked at Atemu with a smile. "So? Still doubt me?"

"No, cousin," Atemu answered pleasantly. "I knew I could trust you."

Ryou went over to Atemu and hugged him. "I _still_ can't believe you and Yugi are going back to _land_…I envy you."

Bakura nodded. "Yeah…you'll know more about humans than we'll _ever_ know."

"I'll tell you all about it," Atemu promised. "Just start splashing around near Yugi's and my window…if I see you, I'll come down to the beach and meet you."

"You better!" replied Ryou. "And we'll keep you updated…about the kingdom..._everything_."

"Likewise," assented Atemu.

Joey let go of Seto at last and swam over to Atemu. The two best friends stared at each other for a moment, before they wrapped their arms around each other and shared a tight, brotherly embrace.

"I'm really going to miss you, man," muttered Joey.

Atemu nodded into the hug. "I'll miss you too, Joey…but with Seto opening up talks, we will see each other often."

Joey smiled. "Have fun playing games up there with Yugi."

"Have fun ruling the kingdom down there with Seto," responded Atemu.

And with that, the two released each other, smiling warmly.

"Are you ready?" Aknamkanon asked his son.

Atemu looked at Yugi; Yugi took his hand and nodded.

"We're ready," Atemu answered.

The King of the Merpeople raised his staff and pointed it at his son and his Aibou, and a gentle swirl of green light emerged from it and surrounded the two tricolor-haired mermen. Although Dartz's transformation of Atemu had been painful like being ripped in half, the transformation Aknamkanon gave Atemu and Yugi was like a gentle wave on the shore of a beach. When the light faded and the princes were revealed, they were both human once more and dressed in fine clothes of elegant black and virtuous white respectively.

"Be happy, my son," Aknamkanon said with a paternal smile.

Atemu wrapped an arm around Yugi. "I will, Father."

And his father, his Court and his friends one by one returned to the sea.

"Tristan…Tea," Atemu stated quietly, "I think we should head back to shore…after three transformations in three days…I'm going to need a _long_ nap."

Yugi gave a yawn and nodded tiredly, nuzzling his head into Atemu's chest. "Sleep sounds good…"

Atemu looked down at his Aibou lovingly, before he turned his scarlet eyes to the sea that had once been his home. He may miss the kingdom that he had played and grown up in, but he knew that here with Yugi, he would have a home that could stay with him no matter where he was. Home is more than simply a place to live in; it's a place where one can feel like he belongs, and Atemu knew that by Yugi's side was where he belonged, for they could always find a home in the other's heart.


	14. Epilogue

**_Epilogue_**

In the histories that follow, we know that both Kings Yugi and Atemu lived very long, happy lives, always together and working to improve relations between their kingdom and the underwater kingdom Kings Seto and Joey reigned over. Sadly, following the deaths of the human Kings, their heir, Queen Rebecca, was murdered by poison (likely by a supporter of the now-deceased "Big Five") and the kingdom by the sea went into chaos. In that time, the merpeople lost all contact with the humans who still remembered Atemu's idea of how to arrange meetings. When the kingdom on land finally gained peace once more and chose one of Yugi's cousins, the young prince Leon, to rule, the High Court of the merpeople realized that the people they needed to forge peace with humans were dead. Yet the adopted children and descendants of Ryou and Bakura never lost hope. They always returned to the surface of the water near Atemu and Yugi's old balcony, splashing in an attempt to gain contact with humans. The royalty that possibly might've seen them simply said they were seeing things. Maybe they were. But I entreat you to go back to that white marble palace by the sea and look for the room that is named for the merprince Yugi fell in love with. Step out onto the balcony and revel in the peaceful sea ambience the innocent King Yugi found a fondness for…and if you hear a splash and see an odd stranger swimming in the water only to disappear the instant you look back, run to the beach below the balcony. Maybe you'll finally be able to prove or disprove the existence of merpeople where I cannot.


	15. Author's Concluding Words

_**Author's Concluding Words**_

Kitty: So ends Namonaki Ai.

Atem: Ah, _now_ I know why you named this story _'Nameless Love,' _Kitty…very clever.

Joey: (green in the face) But why the hell did you make me kiss _Kaiba_?

Kitty: 'Cause it's a shonen-ai fic. Get over it.

Yugi: I think it was lovely, Kitten…even though I almost died.

Kitty: (pecks Yugi's cheek) Oh Yugi-chan, you know I wouldn't have _killed_ you…I don't think I could easily kill off a character at _all_, let alone _you_.

Bakura: (his hair no longer pink) And yet you can _easily_ make them snog someone they'd rather _kill_ than be nice to.

Kitty: (grins) We could always use more love in the world.

Bakura: (scoffs) Bullshit.

Kitty: (smacks Bakura and starts typing this letter to you…)

* * *

_**My Beloved Readers;**_

_**Okay…where should I start? The flood of faithful reviews to every chapter…the tremendous approval…I'm very, very pleased that so many of you enjoyed this. As soon as I got the idea to do a parody of the Little Mermaid, I admit I thought I was going to screw up so bad, but your kind reviews made it so that I could keep going and know I wasn't scarring the original story for life. For this, I thank my reviewers, anonymous and authors, who gave me feedback throughout this story's progression…**_

**Spicey Babe  
Kyo lover with little sanity  
Masami Mistress Of Fire  
Serzie  
SGCred  
ANAYAS-CREATER  
Blackcat1227  
Yume Ishimaru  
redconvoy  
dogangeslrule  
Rainbow Guardian Angel  
Sanni York  
YGO Cupid  
emily  
Atemu Yugi Lover34  
lunarxshinobi  
Pharaohyamifan  
DaakuKitsune  
meatofevil  
Yami-Echo  
S2Teennovelist  
Mjus  
mint  
A.YamiYugi  
Maple Isabell  
Auster  
a light amongst shadows  
SilverWing147  
pequena  
KelseyAlicia  
YukidaYakashi  
Crystal F. Flowright  
Protector Of The Pharaoh  
Pharaoh Felicia  
asara kaden  
Gilraen R. Luinwe  
Mystik Genie  
xamosy  
Leencz  
Animehunter08  
enlightenedforces**

_**I also thank those who put my story on their alert and favorites list and the C2 communities who archived this story; I am truly honored. Now, my lovely readers…I give you a chance to advise me. I need ideas for future stories; I have quite a few already, but I would love your opinions, for you might give me ideas I have not thought of or solidify ideas I already have in mind. Give me suggestions on future parody ideas you'd like me to try, Disney or not. I look forward to your opinions.**_

_**Again, thank you for all of your support. I truly would not write were it not for your wonderful feedback and helpful critiques. **_

_**Lots of Love From**_  
**the1koolkitty**


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